The present work evaluated the Aquacrop model as a tool for climate risk analysis and yield prediction of cowpea, cultivated in a dystrophic yellow oxisol. The model was previously calibrated and validated for two harvests, in order to simulate the biomass and yield of cowpea, considering four applied water blades over its reproductive period. The good achieved results prove the model’s efficiency for this kind of simulation. After validation, the yield simulation of cowpea based on the meteorological data (2003 to 2014), soil and crop management of 12 harvests was performed. Two scenarios were given: the potential yield without water restrictions; and the actual yield, considering to pluvial availability conditions of the inserted series. The results suggested that the optimum sowing dates are between April 1st and 20th, in which there was a low yield loss (< 10 %) considering the potential yield, high probability (> 90 %) of achieving high yields (above 1300 kg ha-1) and a low risk of getting crop harvesting in the rainy period. After all, the model proved to be a feasible tool for predicting cowpea yield in the region and also over regions with similar characteristics.

Cowpeas are of high socioeconomic importance in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, whereby the search for alternatives that offer increased productivity with financial returns has become an important challenge. Thus, the objective of this study was to estimate and evaluate the economic indicators of cowpea production in 2015 and 2016 when applying drip irrigation to different depths. Irrigation treatments were based on crop evapotranspiration (ETc). The experiment was laid in a randomized complete blocks design with four treatments (0, 25, 50, and 100% ETc) and six replications. For economic analysis, the results were extrapolated to an area of one hectare. Productivity in 2015 was lower than that in 2016; however, in all treatments, it was always higher when plants were grown under adequate water supply. In both years, the total operating costs were higher under irrigation than under rainfed conditions. The 100% ETc treatment resulted in a greater number of cowpea bags (60 kg) produced and a higher gross revenue than the rainfed treatment by 17 bags ha-1, equivalent to 1,020 kg ha-1 (gross revenue US$ 711.48) and 16 bags ha-1, equivalent to 960 kg ha-1 (gross revenue US$ 867.12), in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Water deficit limited cowpea yield in both years but made cultivation economically unfeasible only in 2015.

Water availability is a crucial factor in the final productivity of cowpea. The objective of this work was to evaluate the production and productivity components of cowpea under different irrigation depths in Amazonian conditions. The experiment was carried out at the School Farm of the Federal Rural University of Amazonia, in the municipality of Castanhal-PA, using the cultivar BR3 Tracuateua, from September to November 2014, 2015, and 2016. The experimental design was conducted on six blocks and four treatments, where the four irrigation depths of 0, 25, 50, and 100% of crop evapotranspiration were tested. The productivity analysis was performed when 90% of the plants were in the phenological stage R9. The evaluated production components were pod length, number of pods per plant, number of grains per pod, mass of one hundred grains, and harvest index. There was a statistical difference among all treatments for the components of production and among productivities. An average reduction of 827 kg ha⁻¹ in cowpea productivity was observed during the three years of study, when the treatment without irrigation was compared with the treatment irrigated with 100% of the crop’s water demand. It was found in this research that the simple fulfillment of the nutritional and phytosanitary demands of the crop, associated with an adequate planning of when to plant in the region, would already help in the improvement of local production when choosing times where the water deficit in the reproductive phase is less than 33 mm.

A previsão das condições climáticas auxilia nas tomadas de decisões devido a sua grande influência nos cultivos, possibilitando estratégias produtivas mais eficientes e diminuição de danos, principalmente nas fases mais críticas da cultura do milho que determinam seu potencial produtivo. Foi desenvolvido um modelo de regressão linear múltipla (RLM) para previsão decendial dos elementos meteorológicos com pelo menos 2 meses de antecedência para 15 localidades que são destaque na produção de milho no Brasil. Foi utilizado um conjunto de dados diários de temperatura média, mínima e máxima do ar, velocidade do vento, umidade relativa e radiação global fornecidos pelo sistema NASA/POWER e dados de precipitação obtidos da Agência Nacional de Águas (2003 a 2019), organizados em decêndios (DEC) em função do ciclo médio do milho e agrupados em dois tipos de clima (Am e Aw). As previsões utilizando 14 DEC nos dois tipos climáticos apresentaram, em média, elevada acurácia para todos os elementos, com destaque para a velocidade do vento que com 2 meses de antecedência atingiu R²ajust > 0,9 e RMSE e ES < 0,9 m/s. A chuva, mesmo com maior variabilidade no clima Am, obteve um R²ajust > 0,62 e com 12 DEC R²ajust > 0,55 e em ambos RMSE e ES < 30 mm, enquanto no clima Aw com 14 DEC R²ajust > 0,70 e com 12 DEC R²ajust > 0,60 e em ambos RMSE e ES < 50 mm. Conclui-se que a RLM é uma ferramenta eficaz para a previsão de elementos climáticos em escala decendial.

The objective of this study was to analyze the variations of the decoupling factor and the aerodynamic and stomatal conductances for cowpea subjected to different levels of water availability during the reproductive phenological stages of the crop. The study was conducted in the municipality of Castanhal located in the northeast of the state of Pará, Brazil, in an area planted with cowpea, in 2013, 2014 and 2015 with four irrigation treatments: T100 - replacement of 100% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc); T50 - replacement of 50% ETc; T25 - replacement of 25% ETc; and T0 - without any replacement (without irrigation). The interaction between the crop and the atmosphere in water vapor exchange was estimated through the decoupling factor (Ω), which was between 0.5 and 1, except for the treatment without irrigation, indicating a moderate to high decoupling between the crop and the atmosphere, so that the water vapor exchange process was controlled by the energy supply, instead of stomatal control.