Modeling energy beets using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer

Abstract. Energy beet, a variety of sugarbeet, is currently being considered as one of the most viable feedstock alternatives for advanced biofuel production. In the United States sugarbeets are grown mostly in 5 regions encircling 11 States. In addition to being potentially used for biofuel production, the deep-rooted sugarbeets or energy beets have also shown potentials for mitigating soil salinity problems, improving the water and fertilizer use, and complementing other crops in crop rotations. Physically-based models can be used to understand the sugarbeet’s plant growth process and its effect on soil and water quality. The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), originally developed by an international network of scientists, is a widely used crop growth system and currently has twenty-three crop growth modules, which do not include one for sugarbeets/energy beets. Our current research focuses on incorporating a sugarbeet plant growth module into the DSSAT and calibrating the Sugarbeet DSSAT model against the field data collected at the Carrington Research and Extension Station in 2014. In the future, we will integrate the Sugarbeet DSSAT with the Root Zone Water Quality Model to better understand the water and solute movements in the root zones of a sugarbeet/energy beet field.