Use of Ceres-Maize simulation in irrigation strategies evalution for maize growth in two regions of <em>Minas Gerais</em> state

Abstract

The Ceres-Maize model was used with the objective of studying water consumption and profitability of maize crop at three growing seasons, for two regions of Minas Gerais state, stablishing and evaluating the necessary database for the use of this model. Cultivar BR201 was used to evaluate conduction distinct strategies of the crop, at the location of Sete Lagoas and Janaúba. Treatments consisted of conduction of irrigated and non irrigated crops during the growing seasons (05/15/ 10/15 and 12/15) and of two frequency levels of water aplication: high (central pivot) and medium (conventional sprinkle irrigation). The simulation results have shown that the use of these models as complementary tools to conventional trials and the information presented helped on building the necessary files for simulations. It was observed that although irrigation alows higher yield, its influence on the costs of maize production resulted in a negative economic feedback for both location studied, except for the 10/15 and 12/15 negative season in Sete Lagoas under medium frequency irrigation conditions. Yields irrigated green maize despite the high production costs, showed more profitability when compared to grain production, being economically viable in the majority of treatments.