Simulating cotton yield response to deficit irrigation with the FAO AquaCrop model

F Hussein,A Yakoub,M Janat

doi:10.5424/sjar/20110904-358-10

Abstract

The Food and Agriculture Organization has reflected the importance of predicting yield response to water by developing the AquaCrop model. During three growing seasons (2007-2009), a field experiment was conducted in the South-East of Damascus (Syria) to assess the response of drip irrigated cotton grown under full (FI) and deficit irrigation (80, 65, 50% of FI). Input data and comparisons between simulated and observed canopy cover (CC), biomass production at harvesting, final seed cotton yield, and soil water content using data sets of the 2007 season, were used for model calibration. The calibrated model was validated using data sets of the 2008 and 2009 seasons, getting accurate simulation results for CC [root mean square error (RMSE) = 6.5%] and actual evapotranspiration- ETa (RMSE = 25 mm, index of agreement = 0.99). The predicted seed cotton yields were within 6% of measurements. The model predictions of soil water content in the 0.60 m profile were close in the general trend to the measurements. In spite of the good prediction of ETa and seed cotton yield for each treatment, there is an apparent tendency for AquaCrop to over-estimate water use efficiency (WUE) under water-deficit conditions. Therefore, in cases of limited input data, the AquaCrop could be a promising model for estimating crop productivity under deficit irrigation conditions.

Highlights

Increasing the efficiency of water use by crops continues to be a topic of concern because of growing competition for water and the need to face the food crisis in developing countries
There was a slight mismatch in the last measured canopy cover (CC) value, owing to the delayed decline compared with simulated CC, except for the DI-65 treatment
The low root mean square error (RMSE) (6%), calculated for all treatments, obtained in this study indicated a good agreement

Summary

Introduction

Increasing the efficiency of water use by crops continues to be a topic of concern because of growing competition for water and the need to face the food crisis in developing countries. In this context, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has developed a new water productivity model named AquaCrop (Raes et al, 2009; Steduto et al, 2009). Water stress can either increase or decrease HI value depending on the timing and intensity of the stress and crop growth pattern (Steduto et al, 2009). More information on the concepts underlying the model, its structure and algorithmic solutions are found in Steduto et al (2009) and Raes et al (2009)

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