ABSTRACT
Chenzhou city is the most typical region of Nanling Hill Ecological Zone of flue-cured tobacco with of aroma style of burnt sweet and pure sweet in China and is the largest planting region of flue-cured tobacco in Hunan province. It is of significance to study the changes of climatic parameters with time because climate is the most important factor in determining the growth, yield and quality of flue-cured tobacco. In this study, the data of climatic parameters including cumulative sunshine hours(S), mean temperature (T) and cumulative precipitation (P)from 1952 to 2018 in Chenzhou were used to analyze their changes at the scales of year, whole field period and growing period of flue-cured tobacco. The results showed that at the scale of year, the cumulative S, mean T and cumulative P were ranged from 1029.0 h to 2072.1 h, from 17.1°C to 19.5°Cand from 897.1 mm to 2244.6 mm, with the means of 1449.7 h, 18.1°C and 1482.5 mm, respectively. At the scale of whole field period of flue-cured tobacco, the cumulative S, mean T and cumulative P were ranged from 298.1 h to 807.2 h, from 21.2°C to 23.9°C and from 416.7 mm to 1102.7 mm, with the means of 514.8 h, 22.3°C and 719.0 mm, respectively. At the scale of growing period of flue-cured tobacco, the annual cumulative S were ranged from 70.0 h to 257.2 h, from 77.3 h to 322.5 h and from 131.2 h to 300.3 h in the periods of rooting, flourishing and maturing with the means of 127.8 h, 190.4 h and 197.2 h, respectively. The mean temperatures were ranged from 14.2°C to 18.9°C, from 22.2°C to 26.1°C, and from 25.8°C to 29.6°C with the means of 16.4°C, 24.1°C and 28.0°C, respectively. The annual cumulative P were ranged from 69.9 mm to 553.9 mm, from 133.1 mm to 485.6 mm and from 46.4 mm to 356.8 mm in the periods of rooting, flourishing and maturing with the means of 262.5 mm, 299.9 mm and 153.9 mm, respectively. At the year scale, cumulative S annually decreased by 7.587 h, mean T annually increased by 0.02°C, while cumulative P changed irregularly with insignificantly increasing about by 0.184 mm annually. At the scale of whole field period of flue-cured tobacco, mean T annually increased by 0.0195°C, while both cumulative S and P changed irregularly with insignificantly decreasing by 1.64 h and 1.62 mm annually, respectively. At the scale of growing period of flue-cured tobacco, all climatic parameters changed irregularly except cumulative S in significant positive compound function in the maturing period. Meanwhile, the slight decreasing tendency of cumulative sunshine hours and the slight increasing tendency of cumulative precipitation are disadvantageous while the slight increasing tendency of cumulative precipitation in the maturing period is positive for the growth and quality of flue-cured tobacco.