THE SENSITIVITY OF SIMULATED MAIZE YIELDS ON VARIOUS SOIL CHARACTERISTICS IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE, VIETNAM

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a C4 plant. In Thai Nguyen province, the planted maize areas occupy approximately 20% of the total arable land area with clear variations of grain yields between years and regions. Meanwhile, most of the soil types in Thai Nguyen province are poor in nutrition, which greatly impacts maize yields. Therefore, this study utilized the DSSAT model to simulate maize yield under different soil types to investigate the sensitivity analysis of maize yield under different soil types in Thai Nguyen province. The results showed that under the local soil conditions, simulated annual maize yields show that maize grown at the dominating Fluvisols received much higher grain yield than other soils. Maize grown at Fluvisols during the winter season reaches a higher yield than those grown in the spring and the average annual maize yield. This shows the potential of maize grown at Fluvisols, including the winter season considered as the dry season.