Abstract
Continuous monitoring of soil water content is a crucial element for sustainable agricultural water management. The goal of this study was to use the Cropping System Model (CSM)-CROPGRO-Soybean model in conjunction with field data to determine the impact of different irrigation regimes, soil texture, and tillage practices on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] growth, development, and yield for tropical conditions. Field experiments were conducted at two sites: (i) Piracicaba with conventional tillage (PI-1, season 2016–2017), and no-tillage practices (PI-2, season 2017–2018), where the experiments were irrigated with full water requirements; and (ii) Teresina under conventional tillage (season 2019) with two irrigation treatments of full (TE-1) and 50% (TE-2) water requirements. Soil water content was measured for all experiments using an electromagnetic probe installed at several depths. The results showed that the model was able to simulate soybean growth and development for the different sites, with a very good agreement (D-statistic > 0.8) between the simulated and observed data. In addition, the soil water content was simulated with satisfactory accuracy (D-statistic > 0.5). Following model evaluation, long-term hypothetical scenarios for different soil tillage practices and water management regimes were simulated for Piracicaba and Teresina sites. The results showed that the use of no-tillage could reduce the average amount of irrigation in Piracicaba by 30% and in Teresina by 17%, achieving the same yield level as conventional tillage. Thus, the CSM-CROPGRO-Soybean can be used as a tool for determining optimum water management practices for tropical environments.
Published Version
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