Simulation of Salt Concentration in Soil Profiles in Areas with Saline and Shallow Water Table with AquaCrop Model

In this study, the latest version of the AquaCrop model was used to simulate thesalt concentration in paddy fields conditions with a shallow and saline water table.This research was performed as a physical model (lysimeter) in the meteorologicalresearch center of the campus of agriculture and natural resources, the Universityof Tehran in 2017-2018. The complete randomized design consists of two maintreatments with a fresh and shallow water table (FSG)1, as the control treatment,and in the presence of saline and shallow water table (SSG( 2, respectively. Bothwere irrigated with regular water with a salinity of 0.94 dS/m. After evaluatingthe model for simulation of soil profile salinity in FSG treatment, the best valuesof MBE, NRMSE, d, and R2 were zero, 2.11%, 0.93 and 0.84 for the AquaCropmodel. The results showed a good simulation of the model and a relative correlationbetween the observed and simulated data. Also, the parameters of MBE, NRMSE,d, and R2 were calculated to evaluate the efficiency of the model in estimating saltconcentration changes in three-zone of soil. The best values for these parameters inthe SSG treatment -0.01 cm, 1.82%, 0.96 and 0.93, respectively, were obtained forthe AquaCrop model. In general, comparing measured and simulated soil salinityillustrated that the AquaCrop model could be used as a general guide to predict andsimulate the soil salinity changes trend.

Keywords:

Saline and Shallow , Coastal Plains , AquaCrop , Salinity Profile