Capability of the ‘Ball-Berry’ model for predicting stomatal conductance and water use efficiency of potato leaves under different irrigation regimes

The capability of the ‘Ball-Berry’ model (BB-model) in predicting stomatal conductance (gs) and water use efficiency (WUE) of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) leaves under different irrigation regimes was tested using data from two independent pot experiments in 2004 and 2007. Data obtained from 2004 was used for model parameterization, where measurements of midday leaf gas exchange of potted potatoes were done during progressive soil drying for 2 weeks at tuber initiation and earlier bulking stages. The measured photosynthetic rate (An) was used as an input for the model. To account for the effects of soil water deficits on gs, a simple equation modifying the slope (m) based on the mean soil water potential (Ψs) in the soil columns was incorporated into the original BB-model. Compared with the original BB-model, the modified BB-model showed better predictability for both gs and WUE of potato leaves on the parameterization data set. The models were then tested using the data from 2007 where plants were subjected to four irrigation regimes: non-irrigation (NI), full irrigation (FI), partial root-zone drying (PRD), and deficit irrigation (DI) for 3 weeks during tuber initiation and earlier bulking stages. The simulation results showed that the modified BB-model better simulated gs for the NI and DI treatments than the original BB-model, whilst the two models performed equally well for predicting gs of the FI and PRD treatments. Although both models had poor predictability for WUE (0.47 < r2 < 0.71) of potato leaves, the modified BB-model was able to distinguish the effects of the irrigation regimes on WUE being that the WUE was generally greater for PRD than for FI and DI plants. Conclusively, the modified BB-model is capable of predicting gs and of accounting for the differential effects of irrigation regimes on WUE of potato leaves. This information is valuable for further simulating potato water use thereby optimizing WUE under field conditions.