Adapting the CROPGRO model to simulate growth and yield of guar, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L, an industrial legume crop

Authors: BOOTE, KEN - University Of Florida; HOOGENBOOM, GERRIT - University Of Florida; ALE, SRINIVASULU - Texas A&M Agrilife; Adams, Curtis; SHRESTHA, RAJAN - Texas A&M University; MVUYEKURE, R - Texas A&M University; HIMANSHU, SUSHIL - New Mexico State University; GROVER, KULBHUSHAN - New Mexico State University; ANGADI, SANGU - New Mexico State University

Submitted to: Industrial Crops and Products
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/14/2023
Publication Date: 3/28/2023
Citation: Boote, K., Hoogenboom, G., Ale, S., Adams, C.B., Shrestha, R., Mvuyekure, R., Himanshu, S., Grover, K., Angadi, S. 2023. Adapting the CROPGRO model to simulate growth and yield of guar, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L, an industrial legume crop. Industrial Crops and Products. 197. Article 116596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2023.116596.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2023.116596

Interpretive Summary: Guar is a relatively unexplored seed legume crop that is produced primarily for the guar gum found in its seed endosperm. Until now no crop simulation models has existed for guar. This report describes the adaptation of the CROPGRO module of the Cropping System Model (CSM) to simulate guar growth and yield. This adaptation was based on model parameter optimization against plant growth analysis and yield data collected in multiple field experiments conducted in Texas and New Mexico, as well as information obtained from the scientific literature like plant tissue chemical components and cardinal growth temperatures. CSM-CROPGRO is a mechanistic model that simulates daily crop growth and development, dependent on daily weather, soil properties, crop management, and genetic parameters. Our model adaptation process for guar started with CROPGRO-Soybean as the template. Many parameters in the species and cultivar files were altered, including phenological rates, photosynthetic rates, pod addition, seed growth rate, and others. Compared to soybean, guar appears more sensitive to cold temperature, requiring cardinal base temperatures for photosynthesis, rate of leaf appearance, leaf area expansion, and seed growth to be increased by 2 to 4 °C. The model adaptations highlighted the drought tolerance of guar, with slower leaf and root senescence, and greater tolerance of N-fixation under drought. The parameterized model performed well in simulating time-series growth and yield of guar in four distinct experiments carried out at three climactically diverse sites. This is the first creation of a crop model for guar and will be released in the DSSAT

Technical Abstract: Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) is a relatively unexplored seed legume crop with high interest for production of galactomannan (guar gum) which is highly valued for industrial purposes. No crop models exist for guar. This paper describes the adaptation of the CROPGRO model to simulate guar growth and production based on literature knowledge as well as optimization against growth analysis and yield data collected in multiple field experiments in Texas and New Mexico. The CROPGRO model is a mechanistic simulation of daily crop growth and development as a function of daily weather, soil properties, crop management, and species/cultivar parameters. The model simulates leaf-level photosynthesis and processes related to crop C balance, crop-soil N balance, and crop-soil water balance. Model adaptation involved setting tissue compositions, and especially the cardinal temperatures of temperature-dependent processes for the rate of leaf appearance, rate of progress to reproductive events, photosynthesis, pod addition, and seed growth rate, all parameterized in the species file of CROPGRO. Cultivar parameters adjusted include photothermal phase durations, duration to end of leaf area expansion, duration of pod addition, leaf photosynthesis, seed size, seed protein, seed lipid, and single seed filling duration. Adaptations revealed that guar is more sensitive to cold temperature than soybean which required increasing the cardinal base temperatures for photosynthesis, rate of leaf appearance, leaf area expansion, and seed growth by 2 to 4 C. Adaptations highlighted the drought tolerance of guar, with less leaf and root senescence and tolerance of N-fixation under drought. Compared to soybean, simulated guar is more indeterminant with prolonged pod addition and slower N mobilization. The guar model will be in the next DSSAT release.