Modeling the effect of capillary water rise in corn yield in Portugal

There are regions in Europe such as Italy, Portugal, or Holland in which capillary water rise plays an important role in crop water regimes. The objectives of this work were: to modify an existing simulation model (CERES-maize) by including a capillary rise submodel; to use it for predicting the production function of corn grown above a shallow ground water table; and to compare model prediction with experimental results in Portugal. It is assumed that the capillary rise determines the initial conditions of soil water profile within the root zone, just before the sowing day. The model was used to simulate several theoretical and experimental situations for forage corn. Simulation results showed that the production function reaches an optimal yield when the best combination of soil, air and water is obtained. Capillary rise has a negative effect on yield, at high irrigation level. At low irrigation level, the best combination of air and water was obtained when ground water table depth was about 1 m below surface. The good determination coefficient (r² = 0.92) indicated that results of simulations were in good agreement with experimental results. It is concluded that upward flow from shallow water is a significant component in the irrigation water balance of corn.