Abstract
Process-based crop models such as AquaCrop are useful for a variety of applications but must be accurately calibrated and validated. Sugar beet is an important crop that is grown in regions under water scarcity. The discrepancies and uncertainty in past published calibrations, together with important modifications in the program, deemed it necessary to conduct a study aimed at the calibration of AquaCrop (version 6.1) using the results of a single deficit irrigation experiment. The model was validated with additional data from eight farms differing in location, years, varieties, sowing dates, and irrigation. The overall performance of AquaCrop for simulating canopy cover, biomass, and final yield was accurate (RMSE = 11.39%, 2.10 t ha−1, and 0.85 t ha−1, respectively). Once the model was properly calibrated and validated, a scenario analysis was carried out to assess the crop response in terms of yield and water productivity to different irrigation water allocations in the two main production areas of sugar beet in Spain (spring and autumn sowing). The results highlighted the potential of the model by showing the important impact of irrigation water allocation and sowing time on sugar beet production and its irrigation water productivity.
Highlights
Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris), together with sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), are the main sources of commercial sucrose worldwide
Even though the sugar beet cropped area has been decreasing over recent decades, total production remains stable due to increasing yields [1]
The highest average fresh root yield has been recorded in Spain (90 t ha−1 ), despite it not being ranked among the world’s 10 largest producing countries, which have yields ranging from 39 t ha−1 to 88 t ha−1 [1]
Summary
Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris), together with sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), are the main sources of commercial sucrose worldwide. The highest average fresh root yield has been recorded in Spain (90 t ha−1 ), despite it not being ranked among the world’s 10 largest producing countries, which have yields ranging from 39 t ha−1 to 88 t ha−1 [1] This is the result of a significant effort made over recent decades to increase crop productivity through the adoption of optimum farming practices, together with plant breeding efforts, to introduce new, adapted varieties, which was led by the Spanish Research Association for Sugar Beet Crop Improvement (AIMCRA, in its Spanish acronym). Because of the different environments where both crops are grown, sugar beet consumes from 500 to 800 mm of water [2], while the annual evapotranspiration of sugarcane ranges between 800 and 2000 mm [3]. This lower water consumption of sugar beet makes it suitable for water-limited environments (e.g., the Mediterranean region of limited rainfall concentrated in the winter and a rainless summer), where governments are fostering sugar beet production as an
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