Impact of abnormal climate events on the production of Italian ryegrass as a season in Korea

This study aimed to assess the impact of abnormal climate events on the production of Italian ryegrass (IRG), such as autumn low-temperature, severe winter cold and spring droughts in the central inland, southern inland and southern coastal regions. Seasonal climatic variables, including temperature, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, and sunshine duration, were used to set the abnormal climate events using principal component analysis, and the abnormal climate events were distinguished from normal using Euclidean-distance cluster analysis. Furthermore, to estimate the impact caused by abnormal climate events, the dry matter yield (DMY) of IRG between abnormal and normal climate events was compared using a t-test with 5% significance level. As a result, the impact to the DMY of IRG by abnormal climate events in the central inland of Korea was significantly large in order of severe winter cold, spring drought, and autumn low-temperature. In the southern inland regions, severe winter cold was also the most serious abnormal event. These results indicate that the severe cold is critical to IRG in inland regions. Meanwhile, in the southern coastal regions, where severe cold weather is rare, the spring drought was the most serious abnormal climate event. In particular, since 2005, the frequency of spring droughts has tended to increase. In consideration of the trend and frequency of spring drought events, it is likely that drought becomes a NEW NORMAL during spring in Korea. This study was carried out to assess the impact of seasonal abnormal climate events on the DMY of IRG, and it can be helpful to make a guideline for its vulnerability.