Evaluating the Effect of Groundwater Table on Summer Maize Growth Using the AquaCrop Model

Abstract

Shallow groundwater has a great influence on crop growth. However, few studies have investigated the impact of different groundwater depth on crop growth. This paper mainly discusses the impact of the groundwater depth on summer maize growth and the groundwater contributions to summer maize evapotranspiration and yield via the AquaCrop crop growth model. Numerical simulation results showed that summer maize growth and soil water in the Shijin irrigation district were highly related to the groundwater depth. With the depletion of the groundwater, the crop coefficient, crop actual transpiration, crop yield and crop water-use efficiency tended to increase and then decrease. Considering the groundwater contribution, maize yield and water-use efficiency, the suitable groundwater table depth for summer maize growth in the Shijin irrigation district was 1.5 m, and the groundwater contribution was 58.8 % in this case. Thus, discussing the impact of groundwater on crop growth is highly pertinent, as it is important for arranging irrigation schedules.