Significance of rainfall in crop

• Selecting appropriate crop species and/or varieties. For e.g. Deuti variety (maize) can tolerate the drought condition and thus may be suitable in the drought prone area.
• Planning for irrigation and drainage
• Planning for the sowing, pest and disease control, tillage operation, scheduling fertilizer application
• Selecting appropriate soil conservation practices.
• Rainfall contributes to the soil moisture regimes and have thus significant effect on crop growth and development.
• Prolong rainfall for 4-5 months caused poor drainage that reduces the growth and yield of crop drastically.
• Excessive wet condition favors the fungal growth. Excessive rainfall causes the soil runoff and nutrient leaching.
• Water logging condition due to excessive rainfall causes the poor root and microbial respiration as the level of oxygen is depleted.
• At the same time substances toxic to the plants may accumulate in the soil.
• Snowfall serves as thermal insulator, conserving heat in soil. It contributes to meet the chilling requirement of temperate crops such as apple.