Crop Growth and FAO Parameters for the Soil Water Balance (SWB) Model (WRC 753/1/99)

This dataset comprised crop parameter data harvested from WRC Report 753/1/99, which facilitated irrigation scheduling by means of the Soil Water Balance (SWB) model. The data described the crop-growth and FAO crop-factor parameter databases developed for a wide range of agronomic, vegetable, forage and tree crops, together with the field measurements and model outputs used to calibrate and validate the SWB model. Field trials were conducted to obtain data sets where these were not otherwise available, including a vegetable trial at Roodeplaat and a peach trial at Hatfield, both near Pretoria, South Africa, with additional validation data drawn from collaborators and published sources across several South African sites. The harvested dataset included: specific crop-growth parameters for the mechanistic SWB model (Appendix Table B1) covering canopy radiation extinction coefficient, temperature thresholds and day-degree requirements, specific leaf area, dry-matter partitioning, rooting and transpiration parameters; FAO crop factors by growth stage (Appendix Table B2) covering stage durations, basal crop coefficients, stress factors, root depth, crop height and allowable depletion; planting and harvest dates and row spacings for vegetable cultivars; a crop calibration and validation inventory with data sources; and per-simulation soil-water-balance summary values. Values were extracted from a scanned, OCR-processed report and verified against the source pages; cells that could not be resolved with confidence are flagged in the accompanying workbook.