Association of Agrometeorologists

Simulation of growth and yield of four wheat cultivars using WOFOST model under middle Gujarat region

S. K. MISHRA , A. M. SHEKH, S.B. YADAV, ANIL KUMAR, G.G. PATEL, V. PANDEY and H. R. PATEL

WOFOST is a mechanistic crop growth simulation model capturing the complex effect of climate, genotype and agronomic variable through several functions. Results showed that mean observed days to anthesis were 57.9 ± 2.5, 61.1 ± 2.1, and 59.5 ± 1.6 during 2009-10, 2010-11 and for pooled data, while simulated days to anthesis were 60.3 ± 3.9, 62.8 ± 2.0 and 61.6 ± 2.2, respectively. The values of RMSE for simulated maximum LAI were 0.11, 0.08 and 0.08 for 2009-10, 2010-11 and for pooled data, respectively. The observed mean yields were 3406 ± 223, 3757 ± 684 and 3581 ± 430 kg ha-1 during 2009-10, 2010-11 and for pooled analysis while, respective simulated mean yields were 3496 ± 435, 4061 ± 684 and 3778 ± 494 kg ha-1. Likewise, measured above ground production were 8349 ± 752, 8495 ± 953 and 8422 ± 796 kg ha-1 during 2009-10, 2010-11 and for pooled data, while corresponding simulated biomass were 8787 ± 698, 8910 ± 733 and 8889 ± 653 kg ha-1, respectively. The very low value of correlation coefficient r=0.30 and standard deviation ± 4.26 proves the failure of WOFOST model for simulation of harvest index during 2009-10. However, during second year and for pooled analysis the model efficiently and accurately simulated the harvest index. The model performance was somewhere underestimated or overestimated but found within quite acceptable limits. The WOFOST model may be used for simulation and forecasting the yield of wheat.

WOFOST, Wheat, Simulation