Simulation of Soil Moisture Distribution and Maize Yield Under Irrigation With Saline Water By SALTMED Model

The SALTMED is one of the models that can be used for simulation of soil moisture distribution and crop yield under different conditions. This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of SALTMED model for simulation of crop yield and soil moisture distribution under maize cultivation (KSC 704) and irrigation with saline water in research field of Water Sciences Engineering Faculty, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran. This experiment performed in February 2014 to June 2014. The experiments were arranged according to a randomized complete block design with split plot layout. After calibration and verification of model with the control treatment data (irrigation with Karoon river water with EC: 2.5 dS.m-1), soil moisture distribution, crop yield and biological yield simulated for S1, S2, S3 and S4 treatments (irrigation water salinity: 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5 dS.m-1, respectively). According to the calculations of soil moisture distribution prediction, model has a highest accuracy in depth of 60- 90 cm and model accuracy decreased in depth of 90- 120 cm. Accuracy of model increased with increasing the salinity of irrigation water. In simulation of crop yield and biological yield, coefficient of determination respectively was 0.93 and 0.82 and show model has better accuracy in simulation biological yield. According to the results, model simulates soil moisture, crop yield and biological yield with high accuracy.