THE CROP ADAPTABILITY INFORMATION SYSTEM (CAIS)

The "Crop Adaptability Information System" (CAIS) is being developed within the Italian national project AGROSCENARI (MIPAAF, D.M. 8608/7303/2008) . One task of the project AGROSCENARI is to evaluate adaptation options of typical Italian cultivation systems to future climate change, in order to identify crops and varieties compatible with future scenario. The approach applied in the project integrates future climate scenarios, soil water regimes and crop yield response functions to w ater availability to determine the crop adaptability. In CAIS system the soil water regime is estimated through the use of hydrological model physically based (SWAP) at landscape scale on raster or shape support. The software allows to: (i) spatialize the model inputs (climatic variables and bottom boundary conditions), (ii) estimate the soil water and saline balance through the application of the SWAP model; (iii) define the spatial crop rotation; (iv) analyze the results and (v) evaluate the crop adaptability through the comparison of crop yield response functions with the soil water balance determined by simulation runs. The one-dimensional Richards equation is used to solve the soil water balance coupled with a simple crop growth model (which represents a green canopy that intercepts precipitation, transpires and shades the ground) that describes crop development, independent of external stress factors. The CAIS system works in Linux via web and multi-run can be realized.