Evaluation of DSSAT-CERES model for irrigation scheduling of wheat crop in Varanasi region of Uttar Pradesh

The DSSAT-CERES-Wheat model (V-4.6) was calibrated and validated using field experiment data (2008-2014) collected on phenology, yield and yield attributes of four cultivars ( HUW 234, Kundan, HUW 510 and PBW 373) of wheat for Varanasi. The simulated yields were very close to observed grain yield as evident from R2 of 0.96 with nRMSE (4.92%) and D-index (0.99). The simulated phenological events and yield attributes of wheat cultivars were also in good agreement. Therefore, the model was used for evaluation of irrigation scheduling in wheat crop. The results revealed that the model performance was good under three, four and five irrigation scheduling while poor performance was observed under two and one irrigation treatments.