CROP & TREE WATER UPTAKE IN AN AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM

Group 4
Alex W, Eric B, Marlon F, Marten A, Numan A &
Safiyya K
Agroforestry
CONTENTS

Link
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 INTRODUCTION
• Rainfall is the most important variable when considering issues related to climate change and
hydrology (Mohamed et al. 2022).

• The availability or scarcity of rainfall directly or indirectly affects agricultural activities, human life,
and the environment (Mohamed et al. 2022).

• On the contrary, increased temperatures and/climate change, often lead to extended floods and/or
prolonged drought (Mohamed et al. 2022; Labonté-Raymond et al. 2020).

• Ground water variation is in turn affected by rainfall, thus, affecting water uptake (Labonté-
Raymond et al. 2020).
 STRUCTURE

1. Peltophorum Pterocarpum
General Properties
• Require moderate water
• Require more sunlight

Planting day 251 - 8 September: 11mm rain, 26.5°C, 5.3mm potential

evapotranspiration, 0mm irrigation per day.

2. Oryza sativa- Rice

General Properties
• Tropical and Sub-tropical region
• Require abundant water

Plantation: May-July: 3mm rain, 29.2°C, 4.87mm potential evapotranspiration,

0mm irrigation per day.

We will investigate/simulate rainfall & its effect on

 water uptake by crops & trees.
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 TASKS

1. Up to you if you want to show us all factors or only

the first level factor
2. Select your output
3. Run the default without change anything
4. Check your outputs, copy them in excel or graph as
you wish
5. Then change only one parameter relate to your topic
6. Run again and compare the output with the first run

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 FORMULAS

CROP WATER UPTAKE FORMULA

Amount of water taken up by crop from 1st layer per day (l/m^2/day)

• IF(CW_UptPot[Zone]>CW_DemandAct[Zone] and CW_UptDeno[Zone]>0)

• THEN(CW_DemandAct[Zone]*W_CUptPotAct1[Zone]*Rt_CLrv1[Zone]/CW_UptDeno[Zone])
• ELSE(W_CUptPotAct1[Zone])

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 FORMULAS

CROP WATER UPTAKE FORMULA

• CW_UptPot[Zone]: Total amount of water in all soil layers potentially available for crop uptake in
each zone per day (l/m^2.day)
• CW_DemandAct[Zone]: Actual amount of crop water demand per day (l/m^2).  Potential demand
reduced by plant water potential.
• CW_UptDeno[Zone]: A parameter needed to ensure the total amount of water uptake is equal or
less than water demand ((cm l) / (cm^3 m^2)) -> ( l / dm^4)
• W_CUptPotAct1[Zone]: Total amount of water uptake by crop from all soil layers per day in each
zone
• Rt_CLrv1[Zone]: Root density (length) of crop species 1

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 FORMULAS

CROP WATER UPTAKE FORMULA

Amount of water taken up by crop from 1st layer per day (l/m^2/day)
If water available in the soil is
larger than demand and demand
excesses actual uptake

• IF(CW_UptPot[Zone]>CW_DemandAct[Zone] and CW_UptDeno[Zone]>0)

• THEN(CW_DemandAct[Zone]*W_CUptPotAct1[Zone]*Rt_CLrv1[Zone]/CW_UptDeno[Zone])
• ELSE(W_CUptPotAct1[Zone])

Then actual water uptake is multiplied with actual water

availability and a ratio of root density and water availability
Otherwise just actual water uptake is used
demand ratio 

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 FORMULAS

TREE WATER UPTAKE FORMULA

Amount of water taken up by tree species 1 from 1st layer per day (l/m^2/day)

• IF(AF_ZoneFrac[Zone]>0 AND TW_UptDeno[Sp1]>0)

•  THEN (IF(TW_UptPot[Sp1]>TW_DemandAct[Sp1])
• THEN (TW_DemandAct[Sp1]/AF_ZoneFrac[Zone]*W_TUptPotAct1[Zone,Sp1]*
Rt_TLrv1[Zone,Sp1]*AF_ZoneWidth[Zone]/TW_UptDeno[Sp1])
• ELSE(W_TUptPotAct1[Zone,Sp1]))ELSE(0)

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 FORMULAS

TREE WATER UPTAKE FORMULA

• AF_ZoneFrac[Zone]: Relative length of each zone to field length (dimensionless)

• TW_UptDeno: A parameter needed to ensure total amount of water uptake is equal to or less than
demand (cm.l/cm^3.m^2)
• TW_UptPot: Total amount of water in all soil layers available for tree per day (l/m^2)
• TW_DemandAct: Actual amount of water demand by tree per day (l/m^2)
• W_TUptPotAct1: Actual amount of water taken up by tree species 1? 
• Rt_TLrv1: Root density (length) of tree species 1
• AF_ZoneWidth[Zone]:  Actual width of zone 4 (m)

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 FORMULAS

TREE WATER UPTAKE FORMULA

Amount of water taken up by tree species 1 from 1st layer per day (l/m^2/day)

If the field is longer than wide and

water demand excesses actual
• IF(AF_ZoneFrac[Zone]>0 AND TW_UptDeno[Sp1]>0) uptake 
And if water availability is larger
•  THEN (IF(TW_UptPot[Sp1]>TW_DemandAct[Sp1]) than demand

• THEN (TW_DemandAct[Sp1]/AF_ZoneFrac[Zone]*W_TUptPotAct1[Zone,Sp1]*
Rt_TLrv1[Zone,Sp1]*AF_ZoneWidth[Zone]/TW_UptDeno[Sp1])
Then ratio of water demand and
• ELSE(W_TUptPotAct1[Zone,Sp1]))ELSE(0) relative length of the field is
multiplied with water uptake, root
density and the ratio of zone width
Otherwise just use actual water
and actual water uptake
uptake OR uptake is 0 

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 BASELINE ANALYSIS: RICE
• Simulation start at day 191 first planting
• Run for 1,095 day

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BASELINE ANALYSIS:  TREE SP 1

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 SCENARIO ANALYSIS: RICE
Zone 3
• Decreased amount of rainfall in order to model
this possible climate change impact

• Rain multiplier 0,5 instead of 1 to simulate drought

Zone 1 -> only trees

Zone 2 -> crops and trees
Zone 3 -> crops and trees
Zone 4 -> only crops

Zone 2 Zone 4

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 SCENARIO ANALYSIS: TREES
Zone 1 Zone 3

Zone 2 • Crops:
 similar amount of water uptake (annual
species)

• Trees:
 increased water uptake 
 more tree water uptake in zone 1 compared to
other zones (only trees)

• No significant differences to baseline -> running

time of the model just three years 15
 OUTLOOK – WATER MANAGEMENT

• Intercropping and high tree density increased water use efficiency (Droppelmann et al., 2000)
• Lower runoff and higher water inflitration in agroforestry systems (Cannavo et al., 2011)
• potential of competetion between crops and the trees during drought season (Cannavo et al.,
2011)

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 OUTLOOK – CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION/MITIGATION

• Agroforestry has an important role in climate change adaptation, especially for small holder farmers
(Verchot et al., 2007)
• Impacts will be felt most by rural poor in developing countries --> support required (Verchot et al.,
2007)
• Farms with trees had shorter recovery time after most types of natural disasters (Simelton et
al., 2005)
• but --> preference on crops for immediate cash (Simmelton et al., 2005)
• Water scarcity, lack of interactive governance, rights of farmers and ownership issues along with
insufficient financial support to rural farmers should be addressed by the regional countries (Dhyani
et al., 2021)

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 REFERENCES

Cannavo, P., Sansoulet, J., Harmand, J. M., Siles, P., Dreyer, E., & Vaast, P. (2011). Agroforestry associating coffee and Inga
densiflora results in complementarity for water uptake and decreases deep drainage in Costa Rica. Agriculture, ecosystems
& environment, 140(1-2), 1-13.
Dhyani, S., Murthy, I. K., Kadaverugu, R., Dasgupta, R., Kumar, M., & Adesh Gadpayle, K. (2021). Agroforestry to achieve
global climate adaptation and mitigation targets: Are South Asian countries sufficiently prepared?. Forests, 12(3), 303.
Droppelmann, K. J., Lehmann, J., Ephrath, J. E., & Berliner, P. R. (2000). Water use efficiency and uptake patterns in a
runoff agroforestry system in an arid environment. Agroforestry systems, 49(3), 223-243.
Simelton, E., Dam, B. V., & Catacutan, D. (2015). Trees and agroforestry for coping with extreme weather events:
experiences from northern and central Viet Nam. Agroforestry systems, 89(6), 1065-1082. 
Verchot, L. V., Van Noordwijk, M., Kandji, S., Tomich, T., Ong, C., Albrecht, A., ... & Palm, C. (2007). Climate change:
linking adaptation and mitigation through agroforestry. Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change, 12(5), 901-
918. 

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Thank You For Your Attention