Simulation of growth and development of diverse legume species in APSIM

Abstract

This paper describes the physiological basis and validation of a generic legume model as it applies to 4 species: chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek), peanut (Arachis hypogaeaL.), and lucerne (Medicago sativa L.). For each species, the key physiological parameters were derived from the literature and our own experimentation. The model was tested on an independent set of experiments, predominantly from the tropics and subtropics of Australia, varying in cultivar, sowing date, water regime (irrigated or dryland), row spacing, and plant population density. The model is an attempt to simulate crop growth and development with satisfactory comprehensiveness, without the necessity of defining a large number of parameters. A generic approach was adopted in recognition of the common underlying physiology and simulation approaches for many legume species. Simulation of grain yield explained 77, 81, and 70% of the variance (RMSD = 31, 98, and 46 g/m2) for mungbean (n = 40, observed mean = 123 g/m2), peanut (n = 30, 421 g/m2), and chickpea (n = 31, 196 g/m2), respectively. Biomass at maturity was simulated less accurately, explaining 64, 76, and 71% of the variance (RMSD = 134, 236, and 125 g/m2) for mungbean, peanut, and chickpea, respectively. RMSD for biomass in lucerne (n = 24) was 85 g/m2 with an R2 of 0.55. Simulation accuracy is similar to that achieved by single-crop models and suggests that the generic approach offers promise for simulating diverse legume species without loss of accuracy or physiological rigour.

Simulating lupin development, growth, and yield in a Mediterranean environment

“…Similarly, Sinclair and Muchow (1999) reported apparently low RUE values in different grain legumes. Higher RUE values have been found for warm-season grain legumes such as mungbean (0.94) and peanut (1.20) (Robertson et al 2002a).…”

“…The model uses a daily time-step and is driven by daily weather inputs. The physiological basis of the generic APSIM-Legume model and its performance for 5 legume species (chickpea, mungbean, peanut, lucerne, and fababean) has been described in detail by Robertson et al (2002a) and Turpin et al (2003).…”

“…Four modules, a specific crop module (LUPIN), a soil water module (SOILWAT2), a soil nitrogen module (SOILN2), and a residue module (RESIDUE2), are linked within APSIM to simulate the cases described in this paper. The lupin module has been based on the APSIM-Legume template described by Robertson et al (2002a). The soil water, soil nitrogen (N), and residue modules have evolved from the experience in Australia with the CERES models (Jones and Kiniry 1986) and the PERFECT model (Littleboy et al 1992), and are described by Probert et al (1995Probert et al ( , 1998.…”

Growth and developmental responses of crop plants under drought stress: a review

“…Boote et al (1998) reported a few methodologies for simulating LAI in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) crop. While, Robertson et al (2002) gave ordinary crop models relevant to soybean crop. Teruel et al (1997) reported LAI modelling in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) to different water stress conditions.…”

Evaluation of some hybrids of canola in function of sowing dates in Viosa, MG, Brazil

“…For canola, the optimal temperature for its full development is about 20°C, with extreme limits between 12 and 30°C (Robertson et al, 2002;Thomas, 2003).…”