Adapting to climate change: testing possible measures to stabilize wheat and barley yields in a Mediterranean environment

Mediterranean agricultural systems are vulnerable to climate change. Under the combined pressure of temperature increase and the drop in precipitations, cropping systems could suffer from yield variability inducing an increase variability of farmers' income. The general objective of this study is to test possible adaptation measures to climate change for durum wheat and barley agricultural systems grown under the semi-arid conditions of the Bekaa valley in Lebanon. Two experiments were conducted at Tal Amara Research Station of the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute; in the first experiment, two varieties of wheat, Icarasha and Miki, were tested in combination with early sowing coupled with 50 mm amount of irrigation, spring supplemental irrigation and conservation tillage arranged in a split split plot design. In the second experiment, two varieties of barley, Rihane 03 and Assi, were tested in combination with the same management practices. Besides yields and the irrigation water use efficiency defined as the ratio of yield over the amount of water supplied, other agronomic data were collected throughout the growing season. The results showed that farmers in the region should seriously consider adopting these agricultural practices that could constitute possible adaptation measures to climate change, particularly if combined with promising varieties.