Influence of Soil Properties in Different Management Systems: Estimating Soybean Water Changes in the Agro-IBIS Model

Abstract

The water balance in agricultural cropping systems is dependent on the physical and hydraulic characteristics of the soil and the type of farming, both of which are sensitive to the soil management. Most models that describe the interaction between the surface and the atmosphere do not efficiently represent the physical differences across different soil management areas. In this study, the authors analyzed the dynamics of the water exchange in f Corresponding author: Debora Regina Roberti, debora@ufsm.br the agricultural version of the Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS) model (Agro-IBIS) in the presence of different physical soil properties because of the different long-term soil management systems. The experimental soil properties were obtained from two management systems, no tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT) in a long-term experiment in southern Brazil in the soybean growing season of 2009/10. To simulate NT management, this study modified the top soil layer in the model to represent the residual layer. Moreover, a mathematical adjustment to the computation of leaf area index (LAI) is suggested to obtain a better representation of the grain fill to the physiological maturity period. The water exchange dynamics simulated using Agro-IBIS were compared against experimental data collected from both tillage systems. The results show that the model well represented the water dynamics in the soil and the evapotranspiration (ET) in both management systems, in particular during the wet periods. Better results were found for the conventional tillage management system for the water balance. However, with the incorporation of a residual layer and soil properties in NT, the model improved the estimation of evapotranspiration by 6%. The ability of the Agro-IBIS model to estimate ET indicates its potential application in future climate scenarios.

Influence of Land Use and Land Cover on Hydraulic and Physical Soil Properties at the Cerrado Agricultural Frontier

“…However, most of these studies are based on few data and do not allow spatial generalizations. Remote sensing and modeling techniques have been used to broadly study the influence of land use on the water balance [5,[25][26][27], in the dynamic of vegetation [1,7] and climate [28][29][30][31], and show that the replacement of native vegetation by croplands alters in Cerrado the amount of water recycled to the atmosphere at a large-scale [5], affecting the regional climate dynamics [28][29][30][31]. The results of these simulations, however, are very sensitive to the soil physical and hydraulic parameterizations in the model.…”

Carbon stocks and dynamics of different land uses on the Cerrado agricultural frontier

“…Although on one hand the replacement of grazing lands with irrigated cropland may improve soil quality conditions, thus increasing SCS, on the other hand it raises concerns about water use. In Western Bahia, water demand for irrigation has instigated local water conflicts and prompted major concerns regarding the management and conservation of water resources [ 73 ]. Although the region is partially located on the Urucuia aquifer and is drained by three important rivers, water availability will be a limiting factor for irrigation expansion if not carefully managed.…”

Validation of a Process-Based Agro-Ecosystem Model (Agro-IBIS) for Maize in Xinjiang, Northwest China

“…These errors might be attributed to a bias in systematic parameterization of LAI in cropping systems, which also occurred in previous simulations. Mathematical adjustment to the computation of LAI was suggested recently to obtain a better representation of the grain fill to the physiological maturity period [56].…”