AquaCrop model assessment for simulating soybean response under water stress

Abstract

Lately, irrigated soybean production has increased; therefore, tools that can aid water resources management must be improved. Two experiments were carried out, the first one from May to August and the second one from September to December 2019. The experimental design included randomized blocks with five treatments and four replicates. In the control treatment (SE), irrigation was carried out to meet the crop’s water demand during all growth stages. In the other treatments, irrigation was interrupted at specific crop growth stages (TI = VC-V4, TII = V5-R1, TIII = R1-R5, and TIV = R5-R7), and then restored. After calibration, the model satisfactorily estimated the canopy cover, biomass, and soybean yield, with high values of determination coefficients (r² > 0.90), low RMSE and MBE values, and high values of EF. In experiment 1, the soil water content was overestimated in the SE, TI, and TIV treatments by 0.24%, 0.78%, and 0.23%, respectively, and underestimated by 3.3% and 5.5% in the TII and TIII treatments, respectively. In experiment 2, in the SE, TI, TII, TIII, and TIV treatments, the soil water content was underestimated by 6%, 3%, 4.6%, 5.9%, and 6.7%, respectively. Real evapotranspiration was overestimated in all treatments in both experiments, with low r² values in both experiments 1 (0.11– 0.23) and 2 (0.04 – 0.21).