Title: Impact of potential evapotranspiration on maize yields in Northern Cameroon using AquaCrop model

Authors: Brice B.S. Wandjie; Andre Lenouo; David Monkam

Addresses: Laboratory of Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157 Douala, Cameroon ' Laboratory of Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157 Douala, Cameroon ' Laboratory of Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157 Douala, Cameroon

Abstract: This work presents impact of potential evapotranspiration (PET) on the agricultural yield of maize in Northern Cameroon using the AquaCrop model. Weather variables, rainfall, temperature, wind, solar radiation, water vapour pressure, relative humidity in three towns in Northern Cameroon, located in Central Africa are used as independent variables in estimating five PET models from 1985 to 2004 in two of these towns and from 1985 to 1995 in the other. After comparing different PET models, AquaCrop model, which is a crop, culture simulation software developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been calibrated to simulate maize yields during the period of 15 June to 24 October. The results indicated that maize yields increased with PET methods values in the whole study zones for each year. In fact, this study revealed that, compared to the results given using reference PET (FAO Penman-Monteith) values, maize yields raised until up to 60% for the PET values greater than reference PET in the different towns.

Keywords: potential evapotranspiration; PET; AquaCrop; Central Africa; maize yields.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHST.2020.104984

International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology, 2020 Vol.10 No.1, pp.17 - 37

Received: 08 Nov 2017
Accepted: 01 Apr 2018
Published online: 10 Feb 2020 *

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