Abstract
In response to climate change and to the progress of social economy, science, and technology, alterations to crop planting conditions in various places are warrant further scientific, technological, and ecological development. In order to adapt and enhance crop planting conditions, as well as to promote the development of market economy, it is an urgent need to conduct a comprehensive assessment of local crop planting conditions. In this study, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology was applied, combined with the principles of meteorology, climatology, and agrometeorology, to design a framework for assessing the crop planting conditions. Taking into account the needs of local ecological and economic development, the framework was constructed by selecting three major criteria, namely climate resources, disaster prevention, and supporting conditions for cultivation, as well as 14 related sub-indicators, including light resources, heat resources, water resources, air quality, meteorological disasters, plant diseases and insect pests, soil conditions, geographical environment, infrastructure, and management system. Through statistical analysis, the scoring rules for the 14 sub-indicators were set up and the conceptual model for comprehensive evaluation of crop planting conditions was created. To validate the novel assessment model, a comprehensive evaluation experiment was carried out on the main crop planting conditions at the Bayannaoer Hetao Irrigation District of Inner Mongolia. The assessment results indicated that Bayannur Hetao Irrigation District had sufficient light resources, stable heat resources, high climate suitability, and excellent irrigation conditions. The guarantee rate of light, cumulative temperature, and temperature suitability for key growing periods for major crops, such as spring wheat, maize, and sunflower, were more than 85%, whereas water guarantee rate was 100%. The temperature diurnal range was larger. The air quality was excellent and the irrigated areas had fertile soil. The frequency of major meteorological disasters such as high temperature, strong wind, hail, and heavy rain and plant diseases and insect pests were low, and the ability of prediction and defense for these disasters were strong. Natural, geographical, and cultural policies and various resources had prominent advantages in allocation. The comprehensive evaluation of crop cultivation conditions in the region was excellent, level Ⅰ. These results demonstrated that the selected indicators used by the conceptual model were interrelated and independent, hierarchical and structural, and could quantitatively reflect the complex setting formed by the regional climate system and relevant supporting conditions. Indexes were easy to obtain and operate, and the evaluation results were reliable. Therefore, the proposed conceptual model may be applied to the comprehensive evaluation of planting conditions in different regions or different crops, so as to guarantee the ecological and sustainable development of agriculture.
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