Impact analysis of moisture stress on growth and yield of cotton using DSSAT-CROPGRO-cotton model under semi-arid climate.Adequate soil moisture around the root zone of the crops is essential for optimal plant growth and productivity throughout the crop season, whereas excessive as well as deficient moisture is usually detrimental.  The DSSAT-CROPGRO-cotton model was calibrated to validate the response of cotton crop to water stress.  The DSSAT-CROPGRO-cotton model fairly simulated the cotton yield as evidenced by good accuracy (d-stat ≥ 0.92) along with lower root mean square error (RMSE) of ≤183.2 kg ha-1; mean absolute percent error (MAPE) ≤6.5% under different irrigation levels.  Thus, a well calibrated DSSAT-CROPGRO-cotton model may be successfully used for estimating the crop performance under varying hydro-climatic conditions.
DSSAT-CROPGRO-cotton