Abstract

MEDINA GONZALEZ, Hanoi; GARCIA CORONADO, Jorge  and  RUIZ PEREZ, María E. Modeling the effect of rainfall variability on soil water balance of a Rhodic Ferrasol. Rev Cie Téc Agr [online]. 2012, vol.21, n.4, pp. 36-41. ISSN 2071-0054.

It is illustrated a methodology for evaluating the effect of possible changes in the rainfall regime on the soil water balance, in a Red Ferrasol cultivated with potato under irrigation in Mayabeque province. With that purpose scenarios of the variability in the frequency and the intensity of precipitations are created; whilst their effect in the response of a simulation model in terms of the number of irrigations and the percolation for keeping the soil moisture above a certain threshold. The study provides an efficient methodology for the analysis of rainfall variability in the soil moisture dynamics from the stochastic generation of precipitation values and a model based on the Richards equation, implemented in a finite differences scheme. It is demonstrated that under the considered scenarios in this work the number of irrigations needed for supplying a certain demand analogously depends on both, the frequency and the distribution of rainfalls. Percolation is instead basically dependent on the changes in the rainfall amount from a certain threshold. The analyses suggest that the current problem with the water efficiency of the irrigation mainly concerns on the present water dosages rather than with the frequency.  

Keywords : rainfall scenarios; simulation model; irrigation; soil hydraulic properties.

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