Development of new climate and plant adaptation maps for China

The Oregon Seed Council (OSC) is a consortium of Oregon seed companies, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Oregon State University whose purpose is to develop new seed products and market them worldwide. OSC received funding from USDA's Market Access Program to develop new markets in the Peoples' Republic of China for Oregon grass seed products. Grass could be used in China in various ways, including turf, forage, and erosion control. Unfortunately, no accurate species adaptation maps exist to assist OSC in planning their marketing activities. For the past several years there have been several field tests in China to test the performance of grass cultivars, but it is not possible to extrapolate those tests to other areas because of the complexity of China's climate. Needing accurate climate maps for the entire country, OSC contracted with Oregon State University's Spatial Climate Analysis Service (SCAS) to develop the coverages using PRISM, a proven, topographically sensitive interpolation technology. SCAS obtained data from over 700 Chinese stations, and has completed monthly and annual climate maps for precipitation and average maximum and minimum temperature. SCAS relied on grass experts to determine approximate climate tolerances of several grass species (e.g., perennial rye, orchardgrass, and tall fescue), and then used the climate maps and GIS to produce grass adaptation maps for each species. Similar adaptation maps have been produced for the United States as part of the Optimal Forage Species Selection System. Future activities include an iterative review process to improve the adaptation maps, and the acquisition of additional climate data, inclusion of soils data, and accommodations for management practices (for example, applying irrigation in moisture-limited areas).