Modeled climate change impacts on subirrigated maize relative yield in northwest Ohio

Subirrigation is employed to supply water to crop root zones via subsurface drainage systems, which are typically installed for the purpose of excess soil water removal. Crop yield increases due to subirrigation have been demonstrated in numerous studies, but there is limited information regarding yield under future climate conditions when growing season conditions are expected to be drier in the U.S. Corn Belt. DRAINMOD was calibrated and validated for three locations with different soil series in northwest Ohio and used to investigate maize relative yield differences between subirrigation and free subsurface drainage for historic (1984–2013) and future (2041–2070) climate conditions. For historic conditions, the mean maize relative yield increased by 27% with subirrigation on the Nappanee loam soil, but had minimal effect on the Paulding clay and Hoytville silty clay soils. Maize relative yield under free subsurface drainage is predicted to decrease in the future, causing the relative yield difference between free subsurface drainage and subirrigation practices to nearly double from 9% to 16% between the historic and future periods. Consequently, the subirrigation practice can potentially mitigate adverse future climate change impacts on maize yield in northwest Ohio.