Testing and Application of the AquaCrop Model for Wheat Production Under Different Field Management Conditions in South-
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FULL-LENGTH RESEARCH ARTICLE
Testing and Application of the AquaCrop Model for Wheat Production Under Different Field Management Conditions in South-Eastern Australia Ketema Zeleke1,2
•
Claas Nendel3
Received: 19 May 2019 / Accepted: 1 November 2019 Ó NAAS (National Academy of Agricultural Sciences) 2019
Abstract A field experiment involving two spring wheat varieties (EGA Gregory and Livingston) was conducted for 2 years (2013 and 2014), late sown in the first year and early sown in the second year, under two soil water regimes (rainfed and supplemental irrigation) at Wagga Wagga, Australia. The FAO’s AquaCrop model version 4.0 was calibrated and validated for crop canopy cover, dry aboveground biomass, soil water content and grain yield. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) for grain yield and dry aboveground biomass was 0.293 and 2.2 t ha-1, respectively. The RMSE for the rootzone soil water content was 25 mm. The validated model was used to analyse the effect of in-season and off-season conditions on grain yield and water productivity. Grain yield and water productivity decreased (50% for Gregory and 43% for Livingston) with the delay in sowing date. Applying four irrigations to the mid-May sown wheat resulted in a higher (6.5, 5.7 and 5.2 t ha-1, respectively, at 80% exceedance probability) yield relative to the mid-April and mid-June sowing dates. Applying supplemental irrigation both in September and October resulted in a better yield (6.7 vs. 6.0 t ha-1) and water productivity than applying irrigation only in October. The effect of off-season managements such as mulch and preirrigation on yield is 68% higher in low-rainfall years that that of in the wet years. Keywords Mulch Off season Pre-irrigation Rainfall break Sowing date Supplemental irrigation
Introduction The need to secure food and fibre for the ever-increasing world population on the one hand and the competition for the limited water resources and climate change on the other hand necessitate judicious use of water in agricultural production [24]. Wheat is one of the crops contributing the most (700 million tonnes) to the world food production,
& Ketema Zeleke [email protected] 1
School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
2
EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
3
Research Platform ‘‘Models & Simulation’’, Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Mu¨ncheberg, Germany
being the third largest cereal crop in the world only next to corn and rice [8]. In Australia, rainfed annual grain production covers about 23 million hectares with more than half of this area shared by wheat [1]. In south-eastern Australia, wheat growing season is constrained by the time of onset of autumn rainfall, the occurrence of last frost in spring and the high temperature and soil moisture depletion which affects the post-anthesis grain filling [9]. Depending on the autumn rainfall break and the type of variety (early-, mid-, or late-maturing)
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