Optimizing the phosphorus use in cotton by using CSM-CROPGRO-cotton model for semi-arid climate of Vehari-Punjab, Pakistan

Rahman, Muhammad Habib ur/0000-0002-2823-9959; Jabran, Khawar/0000-0001-8512-3330; Hakeem, Khalid Rehman/0000-0001-7824-4695; Amin, Asad/0000-0003-2242-8377; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir/0000-0001-5233-4502; Jatoi, Ghulam Hussain/0000-0002-7266-1567; Rehmani, M.I.A./0000-0001-7922-1233; Bajwa, Ali/0000-0002-7171-3118; Nadeem, Muhammad/0000-0002-7426-1196; Ata-Ul-Karim, Syed Tahir/0000-0001-5233-4502; Ameen, Asif/0000-0002-3982-7000; Islam, Faisal/0000-0002-1471-1570 WOS: 000397013000067 PubMed: 28054268 Crop nutrient management is an essential component of any cropping system. With increasing concerns over environmental protection, improvement in fertilizer use efficiencies has become a prime goal in global agriculture system. Phosphorus (P) is one of the most important nutrients, and strategies are required to optimize its use in important arable crops like cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) that has great significance. Sustainable P use in crop production could significantly avoid environmental hazards resulting from over-P fertilization. Crop growth modeling has emerged as an effective tool to assess and predict the optimal nutrient requirements for different crops. In present study, Decision Support System for Agro-technology Transfer (DSSAT) sub-model CSM-CROPGRO- Cotton-P was evaluated to estimate the observed and simulated P use in two cotton cultivars grown at three P application rates under the semi-arid climate of southern Punjab, Pakistan. The results revealed that both the cultivars performed best at medium rate of P application (57 kg ha(-1)) in terms of days to anthesis, days to maturity, seed cotton yield, total dry matter production, and harvest index during 2013 and 2014. Cultivar FH-142 performed better than MNH-886 in terms of different yield components. There was a good agreement between observed and simulated days to anthesis (0 to 1 day), days to maturity (0 to 2 days), seed cotton yield, total dry matter, and harvest index with an error of -4.4 to 15%, 12-7.5%, and 13-9.5% in MNH-886 and for FH-142, 4-16%, 19-11%, and 16-8.3% for growing years 2013 and 2014, respectively. CROPGRO-Cotton-P would be a useful tool to forecast cotton yield under different levels of P in cotton production system of the semi-arid climate of Southern Punjab. Government of Australia [4915_2015]; Higher Education Commission (HEC) of PakistanHigher Education Commission of Pakistan The first author is grateful to the International Global Change Institute (IGCI) Hamilton, New Zealand, for providing the software (SimCLIM2013) and the required climatic dataset for future projections with for southern Punjab, Pakistan. The first author is thankful to Prof. Dr. Gerrit Hoogenboom (Ex-Director, AgWeatherNet, Washington State University, USA; Currently: University of Florida-USA), for his technical guidance and support during the entire period of study and modeling work. Furthermore, first author is highly thankful from NASA for weather data of respective years (which was obtained from website http://power.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/cgiwrap). The corresponding author (Wajid NASIM) is highly thankful to Government of Australia, for Endeavor Research Award/Fellowship (No. 4915_2015) to The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Sustainable Agriculture, National Research Flagship, Toowoomba-QLD 4350, Australia. Furthermore, co-authors (Wajid NASIM and Shakeel AHMAD) are highly thankful for Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for partial funding.