The impact of global changes on the productivity of soybean: comparison between the experimental and simulated results

• Grant number: 01/06395-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2001
• End date: February 28, 2003
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Agricultural Meteorology
• Principal Investigator: Durval Dourado Neto
• Grantee: Durval Dourado Neto
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] has been an important source of protein for 5,000 years and, since the 1950s, food industries have extracted protein from soybeans to develop varieties of foods and food ingredients. The impacts of global changes, such as the increase in the concentration of CO2 and/or increase in temperature, will affect the development and growth of soybean. Complex models of simulations are widely used to predict the impact of these changes in agricultural production. Notable among these models, is the Cropgro-Soybean model of simulation and growth, which has been used to predict the potential of the impacts of Climate changes in the growth, development and yield of soybean. However, experiments are necessary to determine the accuracy of the simulated results in relation to the development, growth and yield of the crop in field conditions. The first objective of this study is to compare the data on yield, biomass and foliar area obtained in experiments in environmentally controlled chambers, in the University of Georgia, USA, with the responses based on simulations using the CropgroSoybean model and similar climatic data to that used in the experiments. The second objective, based on the comparisons between the simulated and observed data, is to propose improvements in the process of the model to increase the accuracy of the simulated data, in relation to impacts caused by climate change in the production of soybean. The third objective is to compare and analyze the data observed of the root development of the soybean crop in two different concentrations of CO2 (400 and 700 ppm) and three different temperatures (20/15°C, 25/20°C and 30/25°C, day/night). (AU)