Performance of APSIM-Lucerne in South Australia
2003
Zahid, M. | Bellotti, W. | McNeill, A. | Robertson, M. | Unkovich, M. | O'Leary, G. | Australian Agronomy Conference (11th : 2003 : Geelong, Vic.)
The performance of APSIM-Lucerne was tested against a detailed plant and soil data set collected in an experiment located at Roseworthy, South Australia. Data was collected from three irrigation treatments that included supplementary summer surface irrigation (SI) and rainfed (RF) treatments. The experiment was conducted on an established stand of the highly winter-active cultivar Sceptre (winter dormancy rating of 9). Data was collected from 12 harvest cycles running from December 1999 to September 2001. Soil water content was measured fortnightly over this period to a depth of three metres using the neutron moisture meter method. Inorganic soil nitrogen was determined on four occasions. Lucerne shoot biomass was measured at regular intervals along with plant number, stem number, leaf area, leaf weight, stem weight, plant height, node number and flowering time. Model simulations agreed well with observed data for soil water dynamics, phenology, and leaf area index. Lucerne biomass ranged between 1 and 4 t/ha and was also simulated well although some consistent over- and under-predictions were evident. In general, biomass was under-predicted during the summer-autumn period, and over-predicted during spring. Further improvements to model capability are the subject of ongoing research.
Show more [+] Less [-]Muhammad Shafiq Zahid, William Bellotti, Ann McNeill and Michael Robertson
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