Journal of Environmental Hydrology
ISSN 1058-3912


Electronic Journal of the International Association for Environmental Hydrology

JEH Volume 17 (2009), Paper 10    Posted April 4, 2009
FIELD-SCALE SIMULATION OF WINTER-WHEAT LEAF AREA INDEX, SOIL MOISTURE AND WATER-USE EFFICIENCY IN WEST HENAN, CHINA

Xianghui Lu1,2
Vinay Nangia3
Xingmin Mu1,4
Fei Wang1,4
Yanyan Sui1
Peng Gao1,4
Yuqing Yao5

1College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
2Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
3International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka
4Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yangling, China
5Luoyang Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Luoyang, China

ABSTRACT
Crop growth simulation models are useful in evaluating the impacts of different tillage and residue management operations on the changes in land productivity and soil-water balance components. We applied the new Decision Support System for Agro-technology Transfer (DSSAT) version 4.5, an improved crop growth simulation model, to three conservation agriculture treatments and one conventional tillage treatment data from a field-scale study in the west Henan region of China to predict winter-wheat yield, leaf area index and soil-water balance. The area has a winter wheat-fallow-winter wheat rotation with winter wheat planting in October and harvesting in June. The model was calibrated using 2005-2006 winter-wheat crop data from field experiments of four treatments. The DSSAT satisfactorily simulated the treatment variations in winter-wheat yield, leaf area index and soil-water balance. There was good agreement between observed and predicted yields. Although the results show that the DSSAT V4.5 is well suited for simulating winter-wheat growth in the West Henan region of China, these results are preliminary and based on only one year of experimental data and four treatments. Further long-term analyses need to be carried out for improving the understanding of the conservation agriculture cropping systems in the west Henan region of China.

Reference: Lu, X., V.Nangia, X. Mu, F. Wang, Y. Sui, P. Gao, and Y. Yao. 2009. Field-scale simulation of winter-wheat leaf area index, soil moisture and water-use efficiency in West Henan, China . Journal of Environmental Hydrology, Vol. 17, Paper 10.
CONTACT:
Prof. Xingmin Mu
Institute of Soil and Water Conservation
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yangling
712100 China

E-mail: xmmu@ms.iswc.ac.cn



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