An Agroclimatological Overview of Wheat Production Regions of Bolivia

This report describes use of the Spatial Characterization Tool (SCT) developed by Texas A&M University to analyze the similarity of the climates of research sites in the major wheat production areas in Bolivia- the highland intermountain valleys and the lowland plains- to those of other regions. For highland environments, zones of similarity were only found in scattered regions of Bolivia and Per, and the complex topography of the Andean region and the relatively large SCT grid cells (9km x 9km) hampered climate characterization. For lowland sites, combined results of analyses of the favorable season plus the coolest or driest quarters of the year ( when wheat is actually grown in lowland Bolivia) identifies the environments of adjacent areas of Bolivia, two regions in Brazil, Small regions in Venezuela, plus areas in Mexico, Central America, and Africa as similar to those in the target sites in Bolivia. Site similarity analysis appears to be a valuable method for understanding relations among crop production environments, allowing prediction of crop responses to agronomic practices, assessments of genetic diversity or sustainability, and other types of studies. Current applications, however, are limited by a alack of quality data.