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SOWING STRATEGIES FOR BARLEY (HORDEUM VULGARE L.) BASED ON MODELLED YIELD RESPONSE TO WATER WITH AQUACROP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2012

ABRHA BERHANU ,
NELE DELBECQUE ,
DIRK RAES ,
ALEMTSEHAY TSEGAY ,
MLADEN TODOROVIC ,
LEE HENG ,
ELINE VANUTRECHT ,
SAM GEERTS ,
MARGA GARCIA-VILA  and
SEPPE DECKERS
ABRHA BERHANU*
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Sciences, Mekelle University, PO Box, 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U. Leuven University, Celestijnenlaan 200E-pb 2411, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
NELE DELBECQUE
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U. Leuven University, Celestijnenlaan 200E-pb 2411, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
DIRK RAES
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U. Leuven University, Celestijnenlaan 200E-pb 2411, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
ALEMTSEHAY TSEGAY
Affiliation:
Department of Crop and Horticultural Sciences, Mekelle University, PO Box, 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U. Leuven University, Celestijnenlaan 200E-pb 2411, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
MLADEN TODOROVIC
Affiliation:
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, Via Cegalie 9, 70010, Valenzano (BA), Italy
LEE HENG
Affiliation:
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section, Wagrammer Strasse 5, PO Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria
ELINE VANUTRECHT
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U. Leuven University, Celestijnenlaan 200E-pb 2411, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
SAM GEERTS
Affiliation:
VLIR-UOS University Development Cooperation, Bolwerksquare 1a, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
MARGA GARCIA-VILA
Affiliation:
Spanish Council for Scientific Research, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, 14080-Cordoba, Spain
SEPPE DECKERS
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, K.U. Leuven University, Celestijnenlaan 200E-pb 2411, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
*
‡Corresponding author. Email: berhanuabrha@gmail.com
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Summary

AquaCrop, the FAO water productivity model, is used as a tool to predict crop production under water limiting conditions. In the first step AquaCrop was calibrated and validated for barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Data sets of field experiments at seven different locations in four countries (Ethiopia, Italy, Syria and Montana, USA) with different climates in different years and with five different cultivars were used for model calibration and validation. The goodness-of-fit between observed and simulated soil water content, green canopy cover, biomass and grain yield was assessed by means of the coefficient of determination (R2), the Nash–Sutcliff efficiency (E), the index of agreement (d) and the root mean square error (RMSE). The statistical parameters indicated an adequate accuracy of simulations (validation regression of yield: R2 = 0.95, E = 0.94, d = 0.99, RMSE = 0.34). Subsequently, sowing strategies in the semi-arid environment of northern Ethiopia were evaluated with the validated model. Dry sowing had a probability of 47% germination failure attributable to false start of the rainy season. On the other hand, delay sowing at the start of the rainy season to eliminate germinating weeds should be kept as short as possible because grain yields strongly reduce in the season due to water stress when sowing is delayed on shallow soils. This research demonstrates the ability of AquaCrop to predict accurately crop performance with only a limited set of input variables, and the robustness of the model under various environmental and climatic conditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 252 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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