Abstract
Crop models are crucial in assessing the reliability and sustainability of soil water conservation practices. The AquaCrop model was tested and validated for maize productivity under the selected climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices in the rainfed production systems. The model was validated using final biomass (B) and grain yield (GY) data from field experiments involving seven CSA practices (halfmoon pits, 2 cm thick mulch, 4 cm thick mulch, 6 cm thick mulch, 20 cm deep permanent planting basins (PPB), and 30 cm deep) and the control (conventional practice) where no CSA was applied. Statistics for coefficient of determination (R2), Percent bias (Pbias), and Nash–Sutcliffe (E) for B and GY indicate that the AquaCrop model was robust to predict crop yield and biomass as illustrated by the value of R2 > 0.80, Pbias −1.52–1.25% and E > 0.68 for all the CSA practices studied. The relative changes between the actual and simulated water use efficiency (WUE) of grain yield was observed in most of the CSA practices. However, measured WUE was seemingly better in the 2 cm thick mulch, indicating a potential for water saving and yield improvement. Therefore, the AquaCrop model is recommended as a reliable tool for assessing the effectiveness of the selected CSA practices for sustainable and improved maize production; although, the limitations in severely low soil moisture conditions and water stressed environments should be further investigated considering variations in agroecological zones.
Highlights
IntroductionThe global population growth is expected to increase over the 50 years and, rise the demand for food [1]
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The global population growth is expected to increase over the 50 years and, rise the demand for food [1]
The values of d and E obtained during the study (Table 5) indicate that the model was robust in simulating biomass and grain yield in different climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices
Summary
The global population growth is expected to increase over the 50 years and, rise the demand for food [1]. This will necessitate an increase in agriculture production per unit land area, especially in the developing countries of sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) [2,3]. In SSA, food production, which is majorly dependent on natural rainfall, has been greatly affected by water stress related to rainfall fluctuation associated with climate change. Efforts to increase food production should address the challenges of water.
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