AquaCrop Model Enhancement under Soil Mulching Practices Considering Soil Temperature Effect

Abstract

Soil temperature under mulching conditions has a significant impact on crop development, growth rate and other parameters. However, it is not included in the AquaCrop model. Thus, this study aims to improve the AquaCrop model performance for better simulation of soil mulches by considering the heat changing under mulch materials. The proposed modification is conducted through AquaCrop-Open Source software to identify the differences between the temperatures under the mulched soil and air temperatures. It will also help to describe them as additional heat units in specific growth stages. The field data used to evaluate the proposed model has previously been used to calibrate and validate the AquaCrop model in simulating melon growth under different irrigation treatments and soil mulching practices. The results show that the proposed model performs better than the original model in simulating mulched melon under different irrigation regimes. The root mean square error of biomass values was reduced under the modified model by 40%-75% under different irrigation treatments. Additionally, the coefficient of determination (R2) of the modified model slightly increased from the original one. Thus, the proposed model provides a more reliable and robust model.