Field Crop 2024, Vol.7, No.3, 124-133 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 127 innovations in agricultural techniques, such as improved irrigation and nutrient management, are crucial for maintaining productivity and sustainability in maize farming (Farooq et al., 2023). Huang et al. (2020) found that under both 1.5 °C and 2 °C warming scenarios, the potential sowing window for maize in China's Maize Belt shows variability across different regions. The optimal sowing dates, indicated by blue dots, aim to achieve the highest yields and demonstrate significant regional differences. The study highlights that the actual sowing dates recorded at agro-meteorological sites (green gaps) and the potential sowing windows (gray gaps) have some overlap, but there is a notable shift in the optimal sowing periods under the warming scenarios. Early-maturing maize cultivars (yellow gaps) and late-maturing cultivars (red gaps) present different optimal sowing windows, with the optimal dates for highest yield moving earlier as temperatures rise. This suggests a need for adjustments in sowing strategies to maintain maize productivity under future climate conditions. Figure 1 The actual sowing window (ASD) and the potential sowing window, the optimal sowing window and the optimal maize cultivar maturity across china's maize belt under the baseline scenario and the 1.5 °c and 2 °c warming scenarios (Adopted from Huang et al., 2020) Image caption: DOY in the x-axes of the timeline plots represents day of year. The green gaps show the actual sowing window recorded at the agro-meteorological sites, and the whiskers around the green gaps represent the standard deviation of the actual sowing date. The gray gaps show the potential sowing window, and the whiskers around the gray gaps represent the standard deviation of the earliest and latest potential sowing dates. The red or yellow gaps show the optimal sowing window, and the yellow and red shadings represent the early- and late-maturing maize cultivars, respectively. The blue dots show the optimal sowing date with the highest yield (Adopted from Huang et al., 2020) 5.2 Impact on biodiversity and ecosystems Maize production can have profound effects on biodiversity and ecosystems. The intensive use of land for maize cultivation often leads to habitat loss and a decline in biodiversity. Moreover, the monoculture nature of maize farming can reduce ecosystem resilience and increase vulnerability to pests and diseases. Sustainable practices, such as crop rotation and the integration of agroforestry, can help mitigate these impacts by enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services (Tanumihardjo et al., 2020). It is also important to consider the ecological drivers, such as land degradation and water scarcity, which can further exacerbate the negative impacts on biodiversity (Grote et al., 2021).
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