Wheat Yield and Water Productivity Simulation in Hendijan Plain Using AquaCrop Model

Due to the importance of the wheat crop, it is cultivated in many plains in Khuzestan province, Iran. However, cultivation conditions for this crop are not the same in all plains. Therefore, several researches are needed to determine the appropriate cultivation conditions. These researches cost a lot of time and money. For this reason, the use of crop models such as AquaCrop is essential to investigate different cultivation date scenarios. Based on this purpose, the present study was conducted to evaluate the AquaCrop model and simulate wheat yield and water productivity in Hindijan plain, Iran. To do that, the required data were collected from 9 farms during two years. The highest wheat yield in this plain was equal to 1626 kg.ha-1 (with water consumption efficiency of 0.15 kg.m-3). The validation results of AquaCrop model showed that this model had an overestimated error (MBE≥0) to simulate both yield and water productivity. The accuracy (NRME≤0.1) and efficiency (EF≥0) of AquaCrop were excellent for simulating both parameters. Therefore, this model was used to simulate the yield and water productivity for three irrigation water quantities (300, 500 and 700 mm) in the three cultivation dates (the first, second and third decades of November). The results showed that application of 700 mm irrigation water and cultivation date of the third decade of November resulted in achieving a yield about 1500 kg.ha-1 and water consumption efficiency about 0.5 kg.m-3.