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Nowadays, agricultural production is highly exposed to the increasingly frequent extreme environmental events (drought, alternating inland water). In Hungary, the South Alföld Region is the driest area in the country. In 2022, 200 millimeters of precipitation fell in this area instead of the average annual precipitation of 500-550 millimeters, which results in a precipitation deficit of 300-350 millimeters. Adapting to such extremes means technical and financial difficulties for farmers. An accurate knowledge of forecasting systems (meteorological forecasts) and local natural systems (topography, soil properties, groundwater properties, vegetation cover) would make adaptation easier. The long-term, seasonal changes in the groundwater level it can be said to be constant, but if we take some examination, we can determine that this is not the case. It is difficult to identify the causes of fluctuations only by observing short-term water level records. The long-term groundwater-level records in the Hármas-Körös Sub-catchment area, were thoroughly analysed along with the results from the cumulative rainfall, and knowing the prevailing soil type. With our analysis, we assess the trends of the groundwater level (by examining the water levels of eight groundwater monitoring wells) and expected changes by examining the twenty-year monthly average data series of the sub-catchment area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is a significant economic sector in Hungary. As a result of climate change, farmers can face extreme weather situations and their consequences (inland excess water, water shortage, drought, extremely high or low temperatures, yield loss) more often than before. Focusing on drought conditions in Szarvas town area (South-Eastern region of Hungary) we analysed temperature, precipitation and groundwater table level data of 4 monitoring wells between 2002 and 2021. In our study we used mainly the yearly average values. The Mann Kendall test was used to evaluate the data. Palfai Drought Index was calculated to quantify the level of drought. We found increasing trend in yearly average temperature, decreasing trend in groundwater level at most part of the area, no significant trend in yearly sum of precipitation and Palfai Drought Index. According to our data, the relative frequency of drought-free years in the Szarvas region is 30%, moderate and stronger droughts occurred in 50% of years, and the relative frequency of severe droughts was 10%. Severe droughts (PaDI 10-15) occurred twice in the 20 years studied, in 2003 and 2012. These data show the probability of a future drought or drought-free year. Our results hint to the importance of irrigation and irrigation development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the effect of different water supply treatments of processing tomato planted under field conditions was examined in the growing season of 2017, 2018 and 2019, so as to see how these various treatments affect the height of tomato plant and the chlorophyll content of the leaf (SPAD value). At harvest, the amount and proportion of stems to total fruits, the amount of red (marketable), green and diseased berries within the total crop, and the weight of small, medium and large berries within the red fruits were examined. Besides this, the soluble solids content of the red fruits was also determined. The field experiment was carried out in Szarvas, Hungary on the experimental area (School Land) of Szent István University. The soil type was chernozem meadow. The plots received different water supplies. Treatments are marked with: K; I50; I75; I100. The I100 = 100% represents the same water supply as potential evapotranspiration (PET). The plots with lower water supply received a certain percentage of the irrigation water delivered at 100% water treatment. Control (K) received only the amount of water by the precipitation besides the required irrigation (irrigation right after planting, irrigation after fertilization events). Increasing water supply results in a rising tendency at plant height and a decreasing trend at SPAD values. Regarding the ratio of stems to total fruits, it can be stated that due to the increasing water supply increases the weight of both the total fruits and the stem. The distribution of the quality categories of all the fruits points to the fact that an excessive dose of water not only increases the total fruit yield but also increases the weight of red (marketable) berries, and the number of ill fruits. Increasing water doses increase the weight of medium and large fruits within the red fruit compared to the control treatment. According to the results of the soluble solids measurement, the increasing water supply decreases the soluble solids content of the fruits. Larger tomato fruits have a slightly lower soluble solids content than medium and smaller fruits have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]