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Adapting the CROPGRO model for saline soils: the case for a common bean crop

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Abstract

Water scarcity and severe environmental degradation are causing water managers in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan to re-evaluate irrigation water use. Crop models could play an important role in helping farmers decide which systems (crops and irrigation technologies) are feasible. CROPGRO is a physiologically robust agronomic model, although the current version does not consider the effects of soil salinity on crop water use or growth. CROPGRO was modified to include a salinity response function and was tested for gypsiferous soils. A qualitative analysis of the model indicated the model performed as expected under a range of atmospheric, irrigation and crop tolerance scenarios. Model simulations compared very favourably for common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) to results obtained in the greenhouse for yield and seasonal crop evapotranspiration with values of the Willmott agreement index (i) of 0.98 for both variables evaluated at different levels of salinity and deficit irrigation. Final biomass predictions were less satisfactory, although the modified model performed as well as the original model. The modified model was successfully tested with field data on common bean from an experiment in the Fergana Valley (i of 0.75 for ET and 0.74 for final yield), although the sensitivity of the model to a soil fertility function and relative nodule number made it difficult to assess the model performance.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for funding this research. Thanks are also due to all of the staff at the Brace Centre for Water Resources Management. Thanks are also due to Professor Gerrit Hoogenboom for answering many of our questions regarding the CROPGRO model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brace Centre for Water Resources Management, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Montreal, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada

    H. A. Webber

  2. Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Montreal, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada

    C. A. Madramootoo

  3. Department of Plant Science, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Montreal, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada

    M. Bourgault & D. L. Smith

  4. Central Asian Scientific Research Institute of Irrigation (SANIIRI) Karasu-4, 700187, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

    M. G. Horst & G. Stulina

Authors
  1. H. A. Webber
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  2. C. A. Madramootoo
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  3. M. Bourgault
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  4. M. G. Horst
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  5. G. Stulina
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  6. D. L. Smith
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. A. Madramootoo.

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Communicated by S. Ortega-Farias.

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Webber, H.A., Madramootoo, C.A., Bourgault, M. et al. Adapting the CROPGRO model for saline soils: the case for a common bean crop. Irrig Sci 28, 317–329 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-009-0189-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-009-0189-5

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