Aquacrop Model Validation and Calibration for Full and Deficit Irrigation for Sugar Beets

To meet the growing food demand of Egypt's expanding population, it is critical to increase crop water productivity and efficiency while minimizing harmful environmental effects in the face of growing water scarcity, declining water quality, and the uncertainties surrounding climate change. Increasing crop output depends on available water for agriculture. The purpose of this research is to boost irrigation water use efficiency by providing farmers with more information on when and how much to apply, which will maximise application efficiency and distribution uniformity through improved system management and the production of more food with less water. In order to reduce climate change and boost irrigation application efficiency, cor-water models are helpful tools for agricultural water management and effective irrigation scheduling. The aquacrop model was evaluated under irrigated sugar beet crops with different water regimes (100, 80 and 60% potential evapotranspiration (Etp)) throughout the winter growth season (2017/2018) under pressurized irrigation systems (surface drip-irrigation system and fixed-sprinkler irrigation). The crop water productivity for solid-set sprinkler irrigation and surface drip irrigation were about 14.1 and 15.1 g/m2 respectively with an average of about 14.6 g/m2. Model performance was assessed comparing the simulation results with measured data for canopy cover (CC) and biomass (B) and the final yield (Y).