Significant increase in temperatures at the beginning of April

After the unusual winter weather events at the end of March and the beginning of April, which caused additional damage to fruit crops advanced in their development, during the next seven-day period the agrometeorological conditions will undergo a significant change.

An increase in temperatures is forecast for the first days of the period. In the field areas their average daily values will reach and exceed the biological minimum required for the vegetation of winter cereal crops and rapeseed.

A normalization of temperature conditions and an activation of vegetative processes in the autumn-sown stands and the sown spring crops is forecast at the end of the period. At the end of the first ten-day period of April, the following stages will be observed in wheat and barley: tillering, transition to stem elongation and stem elongation stage, mainly in the stands in parts of the Danube Plain and in the eastern regions of the country (agrometeorological stations: Novachene, Silistra, Tsarev Brod, Razgrad, D. Chiflik, Karnobat). In winter rapeseed the beginning of the budding stage will be observed.

By the end of the first ten-day period of April, in many places in the field regions, the high moisture content in the upper soil layers, as a result of the significant precipitation at the beginning of spring, will hinder the performance of pre-sowing tillage and the sowing of medium-early spring crops. For this reason, delays in sunflower sowing are expected. The agrotechnical deadline for sunflower sowing in the Danube Plain is until the middle of the first ten-day period of April, and until the end of the ten-day period – in Northeastern Bulgaria, in the coastal areas and in the high fields of Southwestern Bulgaria.

Favourable conditions for carrying out plant protection spraying in fruit crops not affected by spring frosts will occur during the second half of the period.

Source NIMH