The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

APSIM at Plant & Food Research

Joanna Sharp

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Generic Crop Template - History

• 26 released models use generic crop template (cereals, legumes, vines, trees, weeds, vegetables, pastures)

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

History

Generic Crop Model problems

• Inflexible model structure

• Programming skills needed to make changes

Solution

• Next generation generic crop model

• Exploits modern software systems (.Net)

• Allows flexible approaches to model structure

• Without needing to write code

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

» Dean Holzworth - CSIRO

» Neil Huth - CSIRO

» Robert Zyskowski – Plant and Food Research

» Edmar Teixeira – Plant and Food Research

» John Hargreaves - CSIRO

» Derrick Moot – Lincoln University (New Zealand)

Contributors

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Plant Modeling Framework

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Current status and future

Upcoming publicationBrown et al (in press). Plant Modelling Framework: Software for building and running crop models on the APSIM platform.Environmental Modelling and Simulation

Applied to a number of crops• Broccoli, Carrot, Field Pea, French Bean, Fodder

Beet, Grapes, Kale, Lucerne, Oat, Oil Palm, Potato Ongoing APSIM plant model development• Plant model for APSIMX• Existing crop models to be implemented into PMF• New crop models to be build in PMF

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Grapevine modelling in APSIM

» Developing the model (new crop model in APSIM)

» Current focus on phenology

» Phenology:

Dormancy Budding Shoot growthFlower

developmentBerry

DevelopmentSenescence

Budburst Flowering Veraison Leaf fall

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Budburst

» Experimental and simulation approach to define Chill Units + Thermal time

» Define start of development clock

» Subsequent phenology based on thermal time

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Irrigation Use Efficiency

• Testing SoilWat

• Variable rate irrigation & spatial management

• Hydrophobicity

• Residues & mulches

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Testing and improving soil C & N mineralisation

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 900

50

100

150

200

250

300

Moisture = 0.28 mm/mm - DUL/field capacity

Exp 5 ○C

Exp 10 ○C

Exp 15 ○C

Exp 25 ○C

Exp 35 ○C

APSIM 5 ○C

APSIM 10 ○C

APSIM 15 ○C

APSIM 25 ○C

APSIM 35 ○C

Days

Ca

rbo

n lo

st

(mg

CO

2-C

/kg

so

il)

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Spatial assessment of climate change impact & adaptation

kg/ha

Baseline

(1970 -2000)Climate Change A2

(2070-2099)

Total maize silage biomass

Production system: - High WHC soil- Irrigated

Adaptation:- Sowing dates- Maize Hybrid

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Sensitivity analysis on crop rotations

WinterWheat

Kale

Barley

WinterForage

WinterForage

Field peas3

4

5

1

2

Crop

Soil

Weather

Interactions

0 5 1015202530354045

12

39

26

23

% of total variation

Impact on Nitrogen Leaching (Lincoln – preliminary only)

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Phase I Phase II Phase III

Using APSIM to test another model (OVERSEER®)

APSIM evaluation

N balance: APSIM vs. 2-3 year rotation treatment data

Long –term simulations

N balance: Phase I treatments with 30 years of weather data

N balance: Compare models & identify areas for improvement in OVERSEER®

APSIM vs. OVERSEER®

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited

Team