The Study of climatic conditions of Fars province for the development of autumn sugar beet using geographic information system (GIS)

Identifying new areas for autumn-sown sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) production which requires less water than spring ones, has made it possible to increase the area under cultivation of ​​this crop. The best and least expensive way to identify suitable growing areas is the use of Geographic Information System (GIS). In order to identify the suitable areas for autumn-sown sugar beet planting in Fars province, long-term climatic data of 19-years up to 2016 including temperature and precipitation from 13 synoptic meteorological stations in Fars province including Eghlid, Jahrom, Zarin Dasht, Farashband, Fasa, Firoozabad, Qir&Karzin, Kazeroon, Lar, Lamerd, Nurabad and Nayriz were collected. Then, the required information layers including the characteristics of cumulative heat units, spring hours, biomass and altitude were calculated with GIS. Slope and altitude layers were extracted from their digital model, and the zoning map of the above-mantioned layers and the final zoning map were drawn using the hierarchical method in ArcGIS system environment. Based on the results, central, eastern, western and to some extent southern areas including Firoozabad, Fasa, Nayriz, Jahrom, Farashband, Zarrin Dasht, Darab, and Qir&Karzin were identified as potential areas for autumn-sown sugar beet planting. Northwestern (Kazeroon), Southeast (Darab, Neyriz and Hajiabad) and Southern and Southwestern areas (Qir&Karzin, Lar, and Lamerd) received between 140-170 hours in terms of the number of effective cold hours and were considered as favorable areas for autumn-sown sugar beet planting. The northern and southern margin of Fars province were identified as unsuitable areas for sugar beet planting. According to the province's final zoning map, 13% of the land was highly suitable, 23% was suitable, 31% was medium, and 33% was unsuitable for autumn-sown sugar beet planting.