Impacto de la sensibilidad al estrés hídrico en el rendimiento de los cultivos en zonas de temporal deficiente en México

The low and erratic rainfall in rainfed areas in Mexico, categorizes the production systems in these areas as high risk. This leads to the need for improved agricultural planning in order to increase productivity of rainfall. In this study, we proposed a method to characterize crop sensitivity to water stress and its impact on crop’s yield. The method uses functions of water stress index (WSI) based on water balance (Pp – Et0) from where crop sensitivity (λ) and the impact on relative yield it is deduced. We found that maize is the crop with the less sensitivity to water stress in all its stages of development; on the other hand, beans shows an evident sensitivity in all its stages of development. For all the crops analyzed, the stage of development shows the highest sensitivity to water deficit. In addition, we found the accumulative effect to water stress in all the stages of crop development. We consider that the method may be useful in the planning process of impact amelioration.