Date of Award:

5-1950

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Plants, Soils, and Climate

Department name when degree awarded

Agronomy

Committee Chair(s)

D. W. Thorne

Committee

D. W. Thorne

Abstract

Agriculture first developed in the Middle East where, probably about 15,000-10,000 B. C., the earliest wheat crop was reaped from cultivated wild grasses (Mann, 1946). In Biblical times the Middle East acted as the granary of the western world and led the world in cereal production. Now, however, the situation is different. The Middle East is one of the lowest yielding areas in the world. This failure of the agriculture of the Middle East may be due to both climatic and cultural reasons. Many students of the Middle East report that the climate has changed and that there has been a gradual decline in the amount of rainfall, especially of the autumn rainfall on which the grower of winter wheat depends for the sowing and germination of his crop. Cultural practices have not changed appreciably in that region even though the whole area may have changed from sub-humid to semi-arid. Farmers still follow the same routine of thousands of years ago. Another reason for agricultural failure is the lack of knowledge about climate and crop relationships and the attempts of growing wheat in areas where the climatic pattern is not suited to wheat production.

Many areas having as much as 16 inches of annual rainfall fail to give an economic crop yield. For instance, during the 15 years 1920-1934 the average annual precipitation in Tripolitania was 14.8 inches and in Tunis 16.5 inches, while the yields per acre where 5.2 and 6.0 bushels, respectively. In South Australia, which enjoys similar climate and where the average precipitation for the same years was 16.0 inches, the average yield was 10.6 bushels, or double that of Tripolitania for the same amount of rainfall. This significant difference indicates that in developing arid regions it is necessary to estimate the capacity of climatic and soil conditions for the production of profitable wheat yields.

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