IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v301y2024ics0378377424002737.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The importance of model structure and soil data detail on the simulations of crop growth and water use: A case study for sugarcane

Author

Listed:
  • dos Santos Vianna, Murilo
  • Metselaar, Klaas
  • de Jong van Lier, Quirijn
  • Gaiser, Thomas
  • Marin, Fábio Ricardo

Abstract

Process-based crop models have faced rapid development over the last years, and many modelling platforms are now available and can be used in a wide range of conditions. Whilst the selection of a model should be suited to the purpose of its application, very few studies focused on the impact of choosing different model structures and data details on the simulation outputs. One important aspect is the soil water dynamics, which can be simulated at different levels of details in terms of data and approaches. In this study, we investigated the impact of model structure and data detail on simulations of sugarcane growth and irrigation scheduling. Three different soil water routines (Standalone, Tipping-Bucket, SWAP) were coupled with the SAMUCA model and calibrated with a comprehensive field experiment dataset. We also tested the influence of using simplified homogeneous (SL) and detailed (DL) soil profile information in model performance. The model framework was evaluated against independent field experiments across Brazil and used to simulate long-term sugarcane growth and irrigation scheduling. After calibration, the SWAP-DL showed the highest accuracy in soil moisture predictions, with a 6 % error (RRMSE), but the difference from TippingBucket-DL was small (8 %). While the performance of stalk dry mass, LAI and water-use efficiency simulations were within the range found in literature, comprehensive field experiments showing significant impacts of drought on sugarcane growth are still lacking for a more rigorous evaluation. Both SWAP and tipping-bucket approaches showed higher robustness to soil data detail as compared to the Standalone method, which should be avoided when soil water is critical for sugarcane growth. The use of tipping-bucket method may still be preferred when the research goal is focused on crop growth and soil parameters are limited. SWAP-SAMUCA may provide an extended ability to represent agrohydrological processes in sugarcane plantations and process understanding.

Suggested Citation

  • dos Santos Vianna, Murilo & Metselaar, Klaas & de Jong van Lier, Quirijn & Gaiser, Thomas & Marin, Fábio Ricardo, 2024. "The importance of model structure and soil data detail on the simulations of crop growth and water use: A case study for sugarcane," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:301:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424002737
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.108938
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424002737
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2024.108938?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:301:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424002737. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.