Downloaded by [37.24.145.98] at 13:58 25 May 2015 & Conditions of access <strong>and</strong> use can be found at http://www.t<strong>and</strong>fonline.com/page/ terms-<strong>and</strong>-<strong>conditions</strong>
Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 20 (3), 209-223, <strong>1974</strong> RICE CULTIVATION AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES I. Climate <strong>and</strong> Physiography in Relation to <strong>Rice</strong> Cultivation Yoshikazu TAKAYA, Kazutake KYUMA, <strong>and</strong> Keizaburo KAWAGUCHI* Center for Southeast Asian Studies, <strong>and</strong> •Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto U11iversity, Kyoto, Japan Received March 1, <strong>1974</strong> Downloaded by [37.24.145.98] at 13:58 25 May 2015 In order to characterize the rice <strong>cultivation</strong> In the Mediterranean countries, climate <strong>and</strong> physiography of rice growing areas in It<strong>al</strong>y, Spain, <strong>and</strong> Portug<strong>al</strong> were studied, In northern It<strong>al</strong>y rice Is extensively cultivated on terraces <strong>and</strong> fluvi<strong>al</strong> ·plains of the Po <strong>and</strong> <strong>its</strong> tributaries, making use of the supply of water from Alpine glaciers in addition to the relatively abundant rainf<strong>al</strong>ls of the area. In the Iberian peninsula summer climate is so dry that rice is cultivable only where the ratio of catchment area to rice l<strong>and</strong> area is sufficiently large, thus rice l<strong>and</strong>s are practic<strong>al</strong>ly limited to the floodplains <strong>and</strong> deltas of the big rivers, such as the Sado <strong>and</strong> the Tejo in Portug<strong>al</strong> <strong>and</strong> the Guad<strong>al</strong>quivlr <strong>and</strong> the Ebro In Spain. <strong>Rice</strong> <strong>cultivation</strong> has a certain stable share in the agriculture of the Mediterranean countries, notably of It<strong>al</strong>y, Spain, <strong>and</strong> Portug<strong>al</strong>. The rice acreage is not large but the yield per unit area is quite high, as shown in Table 1. As rice <strong>cultivation</strong> in this region was known to have many characteristics in comparison with that in Japan, the authors attempted to clarify the environment<strong>al</strong> <strong>conditions</strong> under which rice <strong>cultivation</strong> is practised. The survey was carried out in September <strong>and</strong> October, 1972, with the assistance of research <strong>and</strong>/or extension organizations in the respective countries, The present report consists of two parts, one de<strong>al</strong>ing with the climate <strong>and</strong> physiography in relation to rice <strong>cultivation</strong> as well as soil <strong>conditions</strong>, <strong>and</strong> the other de<strong>al</strong>ing with soli <strong>conditions</strong> per se. These papers would supplement what TAN AKA, Y AMAGUCIU, <strong>and</strong> KAWAGUCHI stated in the two previous papers ( 1, 2 ), concerning gener<strong>al</strong> features of rice <strong>cultivation</strong> <strong>and</strong> the nutrition<strong>al</strong> status of rice plants in the Mediterranean region. CLIMATE The climate of the region is broadly categorized as Mediterranean, which Is characterized by winter rains <strong>and</strong> dry summers. Within the three countries surveyed, 209