Climate Scenarios and Cotton Yield in Northeast Brazil. Part I: Calibration and Validation of the Agrometeorological Model

Abstract

This research aimed to calibrate and validate an agrometeorological model of penalization for water deficit applied to the herbaceous cotton culture in 23 municipalities in the Northeast region. The results showed different scenarios, with yield varying from extremely low, with an annual average of less than 500 kg/ha, to extremely high, with an annual average of more than 3500 kg/ha. The calibration process of the agrometeorological model took into account the level of maximum technological productivity, estimated from a statistical adjustment based on the data series of the actual observed yield, allowing satisfactory simulations of the values made available by IBGE. In municipalities with very low yield up to 500 kg/ha, the average observed (AOY) and simulated (ASY) yield was 333 and 361 kg/ha with mean absolute error (MAE) of ± 56 kg/ha, for municipalities with yield between 500 and 1000 kg/ha, the AOY and ASY was 774 and 814 kg/ha with MEA of ± 172 kg/ha, in the municipalities with median yield between 1000 and 2000 kg/ha, the AOY and ASY was 1358 and 1400 kg/ha with MAE of ± 198 kg/ha, and in municipalities with high yield, above 2000 kg/ha, the AOY and ASY was 3233 and 3357 kg/ha with MAE of ± 319 kg/ha, respectively.

Keywords:
herbaceous cotton; water deficit; semiarid; yield