Calibration of the CROPGRO-Perennial Forage for elephant grass and evaluation of yield variability in relation to the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon.

• Grant number: 23/12513-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Agricultural Meteorology
• Principal Investigator: Fabio Ricardo Marin
• Grantee: Lucas Prado Gomes dos Santos
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/17691-8 - Calibration of CROPGRO-Perennial Forage for Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.) and the effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon in forage production, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Process-based crop models are important tools to simulate plant growth, synthesizing physiological processes through input data, where it is possible to simulate genetic improvement through plant responses, in addition to edaphoclimatic and management characteristics of the studied plant. The objective of this project is calibrate the CROPGRO-Perennial Forage/DSSAT model for elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum. cv. Cameroon). The biometry and morphological composition of elephant grass has already been collected in two years of experiment and will be used to understand the partition and to calibrate the CROPGRO-Perennial Forage (CROPGRO-PF)/DSSAT model. Calibration will then allow more accurate simulations on dry matter accumulation and partitioning of the elephant grass plant (Pennisetum purpureum Schum. cv. Cameroon) in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. With a calibrated model, the second objective is to evaluate the influence of the El Niño Southern Oscillation phenomenon and its phases, El Niño (EL) La Niña (LN) and neutral (N) on the forage accumulation of this grass.