ESTIMATION AND ANALYSIS OF GROSS PRIMARY PRODUCTION OF SOYBEAN UNDER VARIOUS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND DROUGHT CONDITIONS

Abstract:

Gross primary production (GPP) of croplands may be used to quantify crop productivity and evaluate a range of management practices. Eddy flux data from three soybean (Glycine max L.) fields under different management practices (no-till vs till; rainfed vs irrigated) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived vegetation indices (VIs) were used to evaluate the biophysical performance of VIs and crop phenology, and to model GPP using a satellite-based vegetation photosynthesis model (VPM). The VIs tracked soybean phenology well and delineated the growing season length. The results show that the carbon uptake period and seasonal sums of net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE) and GPP can be inferred from the length of the vegetation activity period from satellite remote sensing data. Land surface water index (LSWI) tracked drought-impacted vegetation well. On a seasonal scale, NEE of the soybean sites ranged from -37 to -264 g C m^-2. The result suggests that rainfed soybean fields needed about 450-500 mm of well-distributed seasonal rainfall to maximize the net carbon sink. During non-drought conditions, VPM accurately estimated seasonal dynamics and interannual variation of GPP of soybean under different management practices. However, some large discrepancies between GPP_VPM and GPP_EC were observed under drought conditions as the VI did not reflect the corresponding decrease in GPP. Diurnal GPP dynamics showed a bimodal distribution with a pronounced midday depression at the period of higher water vapor pressure deficit (> 1.2 kPa). A modified W_scalar based on LSWI, to account for the water stress, in VPM helped quantify the reduction in GPP during severe drought and the model’s performance improved substantially. The results of this study demonstrate the potential use of remotely sensed VIs for better understanding of carbon dynamics and extrapolation of GPP of soybean croplands.