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Modelling biomass, soil water content and mineral nitrogen in dairy pastures: a comparison of DairyMod and APSIM
Citation
Harrison, MT and De Antoni Migliorati, M and Rowlings, D and Doughterty, W and Grace, P and Eckard, RJ, Modelling biomass, soil water content and mineral nitrogen in dairy pastures: a comparison of DairyMod and APSIM, Proceedings of the 2018 Australasian Dairy Science Symposium, 21-23 November 2018, Palmerston North, New Zealand, pp. 70-75. (2018) [Refereed Conference Paper]
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Abstract
Realistic simulation of soil nitrogen cycling is important for quantifying nitrogen loss pathways to the environment, as well as the influence of N on pasture productivity. Although several models have been evaluated for their ability to simulate pasture growth, few studies have compared the models APSIM and DairyMod. Here, our objectives were to examine the capability of each model in simulating field measurements of pasture biomass, soil water content, mineral nitrogen and N2O emissions. For site one, DairyMod generally simulated mineral N, cumulative N2O and soil water with lower residual error than that from APSIM, but APSIM produced better estimates of pasture biomass. At site two, DairyMod produced more precise estimates of mineral N, but APSIM simulations were more reliable in terms of cumulative N2O. Overall this study demonstrated that both models produced satisfactory estimates of pasture biomass and soil water dynamics, but further research is necessary to diagnose reasons for the sometimes large discrepancies between simulated and measured mineral N and cumulative N2O emissions. Part of this discrepancy is likely to be caused by heterogeneity of soil N in the field, spatially and temporally. Although both models produce temporal estimates of mineral N and N2O, quantification of parameter uncertainty associated with spatial variation in mineral N would help improve model evaluation such as performed in this study.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | modelling, nitrogen,dairy, APSIM, DairyMod, nitrate, ammonium, kikuyu, ryegrass |
| Research Division: | Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
| Research Group: | Agriculture, Land and Farm Management |
| Research Field: | Agricultural Production Systems Simulation |
| Objective Division: | Animal Production and Animal Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Environmentally Sustainable Animal Production |
| Objective Field: | Management of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Animal Production |
| UTAS Author: | Harrison, MT (Dr Matthew Harrison) |
| ID Code: | 129476 |
| Year Published: | 2018 |
| Deposited By: | TIA - Research Institute |
| Deposited On: | 2018-12-03 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-12-07 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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