Spatial Yield Assessment of Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor) Using DSSAT – CERES –Sorghum Model in Solapur, Maharashtra, India

Accurate estimation of crop yield is crucial for ensuring food security and effective policy making. This study focuses on the estimation of sorghum yield in the Solapur region of Maharashtra (India), employing the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) model. Sorghum is the fifth largely produced staple crop of the world which also plays a vital role in the food security produced by India. Maharashtra has the largest area under sorghum crop, and Solapur has the most area under rabi sorghum with an area of 4.6 lakh ha, accounting for 23% of the total area under rabi sorghum in the state. Although productivity is lower in Maharashtra than in other states, these studies will help us to get a preharvest estimate of the crop. Crop Cutting Experiments(CCE) were conducted for rabi sorghum and the model was validated for the simulated yields; which have a range of grain yield from 611 to 1525 kgs ha-1 and showed error with less than 14% and it was evaluated with statistical models such R2, Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE) and results show as 84%, 0.84 and 0.07. This model can be used further used for the yield gap analysis, and climate change studies for the locations.