The potential of a decision support system to simulate irrigation scheduling in southwest Georgia

Abstract

A decision support system was used to simulate irrigation scheduling for maize, cotton, and peanut for the 2001 to 2004 cropping seasons in southwest Georgia. The results were compared with observed data from the Agricultural Water Pumping (AWP) project. The comparison of the cumulative distribution functions between simulated and observed monthly amounts of irrigation showed significant differences for the three crops. However, almost 50% of the simulated cotton and peanut monthly amounts of irrigation were adequately correlated with the observed data. The analysis and comparison of the observed and simulated irrigation scheduling showed the potential that the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) crop simulation models can be used as a tool for on-farm irrigation scheduling.