Calibration and validation of InfoCrop model for phenology, LAI, dry matter and yield of wheat

Abstract

Present experiment was conducted (2015-16 and 2016-17) comprising different levels of water stress and environmental conditions for the model parametrization and validation of Info Crop-wheat v2.1 model. The model was calibrated and validated for popular wheat variety HD-2967 under semi-arid environmental conditions. The important genetic coefficients were generated and model fine-tuned for simulating phenology, leaf area index (LAI), dry matter and yield of wheat crop. The result showed that the model simulated the phenology in terms of days to 50% anthesis and days to physiological maturity very accurately with root mean squared error of 2.26 and 1.36 days, respectively. The model could also able to simulate temporal course of LAI and biomass very satisfactorily. The errors in simulating final biomass and yield were also within the acceptable limit of 10%. We conclude that InfoCrop model is reasonably suitable to simulate the developmental stages, leaf area expansion, dry matter and yield of wheat crop in semi-arid environment hence it can be utilized for undertaking various crop management applications.