Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad-500 059
An attempt has been made to simulate the performance of sorghum using CERES- sorghum simulation model. The crop was simulated using Hyderabad weather with varying plant densitites of 3 to 50 plants/m2, under rainfed conditions. The comparison of computer simulations with observed data showed that the model overpredicted both biomass and grain yield at higher plant populations. This was due to incorrect simulation of both water and nitrogen stresses in the crop at higher populations. The results have also shown that crop phenology subroutine in the model needs to be improved for simulating the sorghum crop under limited water conditions.
