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International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture

ISSN Print: 2578-3467 Downloads: 207655 Total View: 2912428
Frequency: quarterly ISSN Online: 2578-3475 CODEN: IJFSJ3
Email: ijfsa@hillpublisher.com
Article Open Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2021.12.015

Evaluating the Performance of AquaCrop Model in Simulating the Productivity of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Crop under Various Water Levels at Debre Birhan, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Tsegaye Getachew Mengistu1, Tewodros Assefa Nigussie2, Ashebir Haile3,*, Awel Seid2

1Debre Birhan Agricultural Research Center, Debre Birhan, Ethiopia. 

2Department of Water Resources and Irrigation Engineering, Hawassa University Institute of Technology, Hawassa, Sidama, Ethiopia. 

3Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

*Corresponding author: Ashebir Haile

Published: November 19,2021

Abstract

In the future, the agricultural sector in many parts of the world is to produce more with less water. In this regard, this experimental study was carried out to evaluate the performance of AquaCrop model in simulating potato crop growth parameters under various water levels at Debre Birhan, Ethiopia (2019-2020). The simulated crop yield parameters were compared to experimental results for this purpose. The experiment was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design, with four replications and under five water levels (115%, 100%, 85%, 70% and 55 %). The 100% water level was determined to be 377.2 mm of water depth in the growing season. The growth parameter and tuber yield were significant differences among the water levels at p < 0.05. The fresh potato tuber yield and water productivity ranges from 36.09 ton/ha to 43.13 ton/ha and 12.67 kg/m3 to 10.5 kg/m3 were obtained in 55% and 115% water levels respectively. The AquaCrop model performance in the canopy cover, dry aboveground and tuber biomass and soil water content of the potato crop. The statistical indicators; Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), Normalized Root mean square error (NRMSE) index of agreement (d) and Coefficient of determination (R2) showed very well to excellent efficiency, there value is in ranges on aboveground and tuber biomass ranges 0.78 to 0.99, 14.1 to 35.5, 0.96 to 0.99 and 0.96 to 0.98 was observed respectively. However, the results of soil water content before irrigation were found to be poor efficiency ranges -0.96 to 0.00, 10.2 to 10.7, 0.5 to 0.78 0.081 to 0.45 respectively in the above order. From the results of the study, we can conclude in two scenarios: First, in case of water scarce area, it may be more profitable for a farmer to maximize crop water productivity instead of maximizing the harvest per unit of land. The saved water can be used to irrigate extra units of land. Second, in case of no water scarce area, it may be more profitable to maximize the yield harvest than crop water productivity. Under the first scenario, farmers should adopt 70% of crop water requirement with a 10-days interval, which 16.65% saved water with 10.1% yield penalty over 100%. On the other hand, they should adopt 100% of crop water re-quirement within 10-days interval in the case of no water scarce area.

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How to cite this paper

Evaluating the Performance of AquaCrop Model in Simulating the Productivity of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Crop under Various Water Levels at Debre Birhan, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

How to cite this paper: Tsegaye Getachew Mengistu, Tewodros Assefa Nigussie, Ashebir Haile, Awel Seid. (2021) Evaluating the Performance of AquaCrop Model in Simulating the Productivity of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Crop under Various Water Levels at Debre Birhan, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture5(4), 674-687.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2021.12.015