Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Noreen Quinn

Second Advisor

Catherine Palmer

Abstract

The climate of earth is always changing due to natural events, however it is thought that the rapid warming period currently taking place is primarily due human activity to (environmental protection agency 2012). Climate change is altering the environment and this will have consequences for agriculture (Teagasc publications 2012). In this study we examine the relationship between weather and the yield of winter wheat and spring barley in an Irish context using data gathered from 2004-2010 at the Teagasc Oak Park research centre in Carlow. The data was analysed using a mixed effect model to test which if any weather variables were having an impact on crop yields. The effect of input levels was also taken into account as it was clear from the data the input level was having an effect on yield. The results from the mixed models show that spring barley is affected by humidity while winter wheat is affected by maximum rainfall and humidity. These results were validated using plots of residual values vs fitted values. The relationship between yield and humidity was a negative relationship as humidity went up yield went down this is true for both wheat and barley. The relationship between maximum rainfall and yield is a positive relationship suggesting that the heaver the rainfall the greater the yield for wheat.

Comments

Project Thesis in partial fulfilment for the degree of Masters in Computational Biology 200

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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