IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES ON IRRIGATION AND TOMATO PRODUCTIVITY: A LONG-TERM CASE STUDY IN MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT

Crop productivity is strongly driven by climatic variables. Some crops, such as the tomato, will face heavily with the predicted climate change for the current century due to their summer growing cycle. The objective of this simulation study was to assess the impact of the climate change on irrigation scheduling, water consumption, water use efficiency and productivity of tomato in comparison with the past climate (baseline), when the crop has submitted to moderate water stress and with earlier transplanting times. As consequence of the climate change, the water used by the crop (533 mm) as well as the irrigation amount (471 mm) increased compared to the baseline (492 and 395 mm for water use and irrigation, respectively) even if the water use efficiency of dry fruit improved (1.75 kg m^-3 vs. 1.52 kg m^-3). In moderate water stress condition, the crop productivity in changed climatic condition, as well as the water use efficiency, slightly improved if compared to the baseline (+12 and +8%, respectively), even more by anticipating the transplanting time.