June 6 2007, 13:50

Trans-Dniester: drought may lead to low yield of vegetable and fruit crops

The drought was observed on the surface and in soil in the Republic in May; it may lead to a low yield and even loss of some agricultural crops. This information was provided by Tatyana Batsa, the Chief of Agri-Meteorology Department of Trans-Dniester Republican Hydro-meteorological Center, "Lenta PMR" informs.

Mrs. Batsa explained than the average daily temperature exceeded the level of 15 degrees on May 11th - it actually marks the beginning of the summer period according to the agri-meteorological benchmarks. "Moreover, the beginning of summer season was characterized by droughts both in air and on the surface. The air drought means that the temperature is more than 25 Co, the relative humidity is less than 30%, and the rainfalls have been absent for a long period of time. The drought of soil means that there is a low stock of the productive moisture in the plow layer, i.e. less than 10 mm. This figure constituted only 3-4 mm in some locations of the Republic.

It is worth mentioning that the optimal conditions for vegetable crops in this period of time constitute 25-40 mm of the productive moisture in the plow layer of the soil.

If there is no additional irrigation or any other melioration activities, such drought will inevitably lead to great losses of harvest. Talking about fruit crops, this situation may cause the drying and dropping of flowers and fruit sets", Tatyana Batsa stressed.