Abundance of adverse environmental conditions during critical stages of crop production in Northern Germany

Environmental Sciences Europe

Table 1 Adverse environmental conditions, critical growth stages, and sites especially susceptible to these environmental conditions (T_min—minimum daily temperature, T_max—maximum daily temperature, T_lethal—lethal temperature for crop development)

Stage	Expected adverse environmental condition	Problem	Sites	Thresholds/limits	References
Maize
Sowing	Soil moisture	Trafficability	Western regions	45% water content (gravimetric)	Trafficability limit 30% water content [29]
Emergence stem elongation	Late frost	Damage organ tissue	Eastern regions	T_min < 0 °C T_lethal < − 1.9 °C	[18]
Flowering	Heat	Hampered reproduction	All	T_max 37.3 °C	[18]
	Heat days		All	T_max > 30 °C and T_min > 20 °C	DWD
	Heat spells		All	T_max > 30 °C following days above limit	DWD
	Drought		All	DH/UE 24% water content FL/OS 12% water content
Harvest	Soil moisture	Trafficability	DH/UE	45% water content (gravimetric)	Trafficability limit 30% water content [29]
Wheat
Sowing	Soil moisture	Trafficability	Western regions	45% water content (gravimetric)	Trafficability limit 30% water content [29]
Stem elongation–heading	Frost	Damage organ tissue	All	T_min < 0 °C	[19]
Heading–flowering–milking	Heat	Hampered reproduction	All	T_max = 31.0 °C following days above limit	[19]
			All	T_max > 30 °C and Tmin > 20 °C	DWD
	Drought		All	DH/UE 24% water content FL/OS 12% water content
Heading–milking	Heat spells	Following days above limit	All	T_max > 30 °C	DWD
Harvest	Soil moisture	Trafficability	DH/UE	45% water content (gravimetric)	Trafficability limit 30% water content [29]