Theodore C. Hsiao

TL;DR: The FAO crop model AquaCrop as mentioned in this paper is a water-driven growth engine, in which transpiration is calculated first and translated into biomass using a conservative, crop-specific parameter: the biomass water productivity, normalized for atmospheric evaporative demand and air CO 2 concentration.

TL;DR: The AquaCrop model was developed to replace the former FAO I&D Paper 33 procedures for the estimation of crop productivity in relation to water supply and agronomic management in a framework based on current plant physiological and soil water budgeting concepts as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: The first crop chosen to parameterize and test the new FAO AquaCrop model is maize (Zea mays L.). Working mainly with data sets from 6 yr of maize field experiments at Davis, CA, plus another 4 yr of Davis maize canopy data, a set of conservative (nearly constant) parameters, presumably applicable to widely different conditions and not specific to a given crop cultivar, was evaluated by test simulations, and used to simulate the 6 yr Davis data as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: Osmotic adjustment has long been known as a means by which higher plants adapt to salinity, with much of the cell osmotica being ionic and accumulated from the medium.

TL;DR: A combination of transport and changes in growth parameters is proposed as the mechanism co-ordinating the growth of the two organs under conditions of soil moisture depletion.