scholarly journals Measuring and Modeling the Water Balance in Low-Rainfall Cropping Systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 2097-2110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony M. Whitbread ◽  
Munir P. Hoffmann ◽  
C. William Davoren ◽  
Damian Mowat ◽  
Jeffrey A. Baldock
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Climate Risk ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Crop Models ◽  
Available Water ◽  
Plant Available Water

Abstract. In low-rainfall cropping systems, understanding the water balance, and in particular the storage of soil water in the rooting zone for use by crops, is considered critical for devising risk management strategies for grain-based farming. Crop-soil modeling remains a cost-effective option for understanding the interactions between rainfall, soil, and crop growth, from which management options can be derived. The objective of this study was to assess the error in the prediction of soil water content at key decision points in the season against continuous, multi-layer soil water measurements made with frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) probes in long-term experiments in the Mallee region of South Australia and New South Wales. Field estimates of the crop lower limit or drained upper limit were found to be more reliable than laboratory-based estimates, despite the fact that plant-available water capacity (PAWC) did not substantially differ between the methods. Using the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) to simulate plant-available water over three-year rotations, predicted soil water was within 7 mm (PAWC 64 to 99 mm) of the measured data across all sowing events and rotations. Simulated (n = 46) wheat grain production resulted in a root mean square error (RMSE) of 492 kg ha-1, which is only marginally smaller than that of other field studies that derived soil water limits with less detailed methods. This study shows that using field-derived data of soil water limits and soil-specific settings for parameterization of other properties that determine soil evaporation and water redistribution enables APSIM to be widely applied for managing climate risk in low-rainfall environments. Keywords: APSIM, Climate risk management, Crop models, Decision support, Soil moisture.

Simulating infiltration and the water balance in cropping systems with APSIM-SWIM

Soil Research ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 221 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Connolly ◽  
M. Bell ◽  
N. Huth ◽  
D. M. Freebairn ◽  
G. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Soil Condition ◽  
Crop Growth ◽  
Soil Hydraulic Properties ◽  
Crop Models ◽  
Soil Hydraulic ◽  
Parameter Values

We test APSIM-SWIM's ability to simulate infiltration and interactions between the soil water balance and grain crop growth using soil hydraulic properties derived from independent, point measurements. APSIMSWIM is a continuous soil-crop model that simulates infiltration, surface crusting, and soil condition in more detail than most other soil-crop models. Runoff, soil water, and crop growth information measured at sites in southern Queensland was used to test the model. Parameter values were derived directly from soil hydraulic properties measured using rainfall simulators, disc permeameters and ponded rings, and pressure plate apparatus. In general, APSIM-SWIM simulated infiltration, runoff, soil water and the water balance, and yield as accurately and reliably as other soil crop models, indicating the model is suitable for evaluating effects of infiltration and soil-water relations on crop growth. Increased model detail did not hinder application, instead improving parameter transferability and utility, but improved methods of characterising crusting, soil hydraulic conductivity, and macroporosity under field conditions would improve ease of application, prediction accuracy, and reliability of the model. Model utility and accuracy would benefit from improved representation of temporal variation in soil condition, including effects of tillage and consolidation on soil condition and bypass flow in cracks. infiltration, crop models, APSIM, water balance, soil structure.

scholarly journals A Model to Predict Plant-available Water Content of Soils at Different Land Units in Bengkulu, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Bandi Hermawan ◽  
Hasanudin Hasaanudin ◽  
Indra Agustian ◽  
Bambang Gonggo Murcitro
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Water Content ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Physical Property ◽  
Minimum Condition ◽  
Undisturbed Soil ◽  
Available Water ◽  
Available Water Content ◽  
Plant Available Water

Soil water availability to the plants is a very important physical property of soil that controls water and nutrient absorption by the plant.  It is defined as the difference between the maximum amount of water the soil can hold and the minimum condition that the plant can no longer extract water from the soil.  However, soil factors that control the plant available water content (PAWC) in the soil have not been fully understood.  The present study aims to analyze the relations between particle-size distributions and organic carbon with the available water of the soil and to develop a model of predicting PAWC.  Five soil profiles at different land units were described up to the depth of 100 cm.  Ten undisturbed soil samples were taken using the stainless-made core sampler from 10 cm increments for the soil water holding capacity analysis.  A similar number of disturbed samples were also provided from the same depths for soil texture and organic carbon analysis.  Results showed that the variance in PAWC could be explained by sand and clay fractions (R2>0.35) but not by silt and organic carbon contents.  Therefore, we were able to develop a model for the prediction of available water content in the soil from the sand and clay parameters.  The model will help decision-makers be able to propose conservation and management strategies for PAWC in agricultural practices as well as for the soil moisture retention at civil works.

scholarly journals Pulse Root Ideotype for Water Stress in Temperate Cropping System

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 692
Author(s):  
Shiwangni Rao ◽  
Roger Armstrong ◽  
Viridiana Silva-Perez ◽  
Abeya T. Tefera ◽  
Garry M. Rosewarne
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Root System ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
System Architecture ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Root Traits ◽  
Root System Architecture ◽  
Pulse Crops ◽  
Available Water ◽  
Plant Available Water

Pulses are a key component of crop production systems in Southern Australia due to their rotational benefits and potential profit margins. However, cultivation in temperate cropping systems such as that of Southern Australia is limited by low soil water availability and subsoil constraints. This limitation of soil water is compounded by the irregular rainfall, resulting in the absence of plant available water at depth. An increase in the productivity of key pulses and expansion into environments and soil types traditionally considered marginal for their growth will require improved use of the limited soil water and adaptation to sub soil constrains. Roots serve as the interface between soil constraints and the whole plant. Changes in root system architecture (RSA) can be utilised as an adaptive strategy in achieving yield potential under limited rainfall, heterogenous distribution of resources and other soil-based constraints. The existing literature has identified a “‘Steep, Deep and Cheap” root ideotype as a preferred RSA. However, this idiotype is not efficient in a temperate system where plant available water is limited at depth. In addition, this root ideotype and other root architectural studies have focused on cereal crops, which have different structures and growth patterns to pulses due to their monocotyledonous nature and determinant growth habit. The paucity of pulse-specific root architectural studies warrants further investigations into pulse RSA, which should be combined with an examination of the existing variability of known genetic traits so as to develop strategies to alleviate production constraints through either tolerance or avoidance mechanisms. This review proposes a new model of root system architecture of “Wide, Shallow and Fine” roots based on pulse roots in temperate cropping systems. The proposed ideotype has, in addition to other root traits, a root density concentrated in the upper soil layers to capture in-season rainfall before it is lost due to evaporation. The review highlights the potential to achieve this in key pulse crops including chickpea, lentil, faba bean, field pea and lupin. Where possible, comparisons to determinate crops such as cereals have also been made. The review identifies the key root traits that have shown a degree of adaptation via tolerance or avoidance to water stress and documents the current known variability that exists in and amongst pulse crops setting priorities for future research.

Climate Risk Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-116
Author(s):  
Klaus Keller ◽  
Casey Helgeson ◽  
Vivek Srikrishnan
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Climate Risk ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Climate Risk Management ◽  
Risk Management Strategies ◽  
Implementing Strategies

Accelerating global climate change drives new climate risks. People around the world are researching, designing, and implementing strategies to manage these risks. Identifying and implementing sound climate risk management strategies poses nontrivial challenges including ( a) linking the required disciplines, ( b) identifying relevant values and objectives, ( c) identifying and quantifying important uncertainties, ( d) resolving interactions between decision levers and the system dynamics, ( e) quantifying the trade-offs between diverse values under deep and dynamic uncertainties, ( f) communicating to inform decisions, and ( g) learning from the decision-making needs to inform research design. Here we review these challenges and avenues to overcome them. ▪  People and institutions are confronted with emerging and dynamic climate risks. ▪  Stakeholder values are central to defining the decision problem. ▪  Mission-oriented basic research helps to improve the design of climate risk management strategies.

scholarly journals Root-zone plant available water estimation using the SMOS-derived soil water index

2016 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 339-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángel González-Zamora ◽  
Nilda Sánchez ◽  
José Martínez-Fernández ◽  
Wolfgang Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Water Index ◽  
Available Water ◽  
Plant Available Water

Participatory research in dryland cropping systems — monitoring and simulation of soil water and nitrogen in farmers' paddocks in Central Queensland

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 321 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Foale ◽  
M. E. Probert ◽  
P. S. Carberry ◽  
D. Lack ◽  
S. Yeates ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Cropping System ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Mineral Nitrogen ◽  
Soil Behaviour ◽  
On Farm

Collaboration of researchers and service-providers with farmers in addressing crop and soil management, using on-farm experiments and cropping system simulation, was negotiated in 2 districts in Central Queensland, Australia. The 2 most influential variables affecting crop productivity in this region (soil water and mineral nitrogen contents) and the growth of sown crops, were monitored and simulated for 3 years beginning in December 1992. Periodic soil sampling of large experimental strips on 3 farms, from paddocks that differed in cropping history and soil properties, provided robust datasets of change, over time, of soil water and mineral nitrogen status. Farmers participated in twice-yearly discussions with researchers, informed by the accumulating data, which influenced thinking about soil behaviour and possible new management strategies. As the study period coincided with a prolonged drought, so that cropping opportunities were few, the objectives of the work were modified to concentrate almost exclusively on the soil variables.The contribution of the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator, which was used to simulate the measured changes in soil water and mineral nitrogen, was found by all participants to be useful. The APSIM output generally demonstrated close correspondence with field observations, which raised confidence in its applicability to local cropping systems. Exploration of hypothetical situations of interest to farmer participants, in the form of what-if scenarios, provided insights into the behaviour of the production system for a range of soil and seasonal conditions. The informed speculation of the simulator became a substitute for the farmers' own, more tentative, efforts.The regular participative review sessions proved to be highly effective in stimulating the learning of both farmers and researchers. The farmers were able to feel comfortable as owners of the collaborative experiments and custodians of the learning environment. Clear evidence for the ongoing learning of these farmers appeared in post-collaboration practices and experiences.

Simulation of legume-cereal systems using APSIM

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 317 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Probert ◽  
P. S. Carberry ◽  
R. L. McCown ◽  
J. E. Turpin
Keyword(s):  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Cereal Crops ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Stylosanthes Hamata ◽  
Scenario Analyses ◽  
Simulation Scenario

A major issue for the sustainability of cropping systems is the maintenance of soil fertility and especially the supply of nitrogen to cereal crops. Choice of appropriate management strategies, including the role of legumes, is problematic, especially where climatic variation is large. Simulation models provide the means of extrapolation from the site- and season-specific bounds of experimental data to permit scenario analyses that can explore alternative management options. This paper is a status report on the capabilities of the APSIM modelling framework to simulate legume-cereal systems. APSIM deals with water and nitrogen constraints to crop growth and is well suited to the task of modelling whole systems involving crop rotations. The components that are not yet fully developed are modules for growing the legume crops and coupling these with the module describing the dynamics of soil organic matter to obtain sensible predictions of nitrogen supply to subsequent crops. Evidence is provided that those parts of the system that can be represented by current APSIM modules are predicted satisfactorily. The closest approach to a whole system that has been simulated to date is grass or legume (Stylosanthes hamata cv. Verano) leys followed by crops of maize or sorghum grown in experiments at Katherine, NT. Predictions of the yields of the leys and the cereal crops, especially the benefit from the legume leys to a second crop, were sufficiently close to measured yields to suggest that there are good prospects for developing useful models of other systems involving legumes and cereals. A simulation scenario exploring a chickpea-wheat system demonstrates how models can be used to analyse both productivity and sustainability aspects of the system.

Managing production constraints to the reliability of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) within marginal areas of the northern grains region of Australia

2007 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 396 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. M. Whish ◽  
P. Castor ◽  
P. S. Carberry
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yields ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Sowing Date ◽  
Grain Legume ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Available Water ◽  
Marginal Areas ◽  
Plant Available Water ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Rotation Crop

The poor reliability of chickpea yield produced in the marginal (<600 mm rainfall) areas of the northern cropping zone is a constraint to the wide adoption of the crop. Chickpea is a valuable rotation crop and is currently the only viable winter grain legume suitable to this region. This paper uses results from in-crop monitoring and crop simulation, to identify practical management strategies to improve the reliability of chickpea crops in this region. APSIM-Chickpea successfully simulated the commercial yields of chickpea crops monitored during the study. Soil water at sowing and sowing date were identified as key determinants of yield. A ‘rule of thumb’ was derived, which showed that crops sown with a starting plant-available water of ~100 mm at sowing had an 80% probability of producing a better than break-even yield for the majority of the region and this was independent of the soil’s plant-available water capacity or crop sowing date. The probability of accumulating 100 mm of stored water in this western region is 90% following harvest of a May–sown wheat crop. Increased plant population improved crop yields in 60% of years, but this only translated to improved returns in ~50% of those years. The use of these simple management approaches will improve the reliability of chickpea production and ensure that these marginal areas have the option of a viable winter grain legume in their rotations.

scholarly journals Simulations of the Soil Evaporation and Crop Transpiration Beneath a Maize Crop Canopy in a Humid Area

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1975
Author(s):  
Tianting Guo ◽  
Chunwei Liu ◽  
Ying Xiang ◽  
Pei Zhang ◽  
Ranghui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Growth Period ◽  
Soil Evaporation ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Maize Crop ◽  
Crop Models ◽  
Humid Area

Soil evaporation (Es) and crop transpiration (Tc) are important components of water balance in cropping systems. Comparing the accurate calculation by crop models of Es and Tc to the measured evaporation and transpiration has significant advances to the optimal configuration of water resource and evaluation of the accuracy of crop models in estimating water consumption. To evaluate the adaptation of APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems simulator) in calculating the Es and Tc in Nanjing, APSIM model parameters, including the meteorological and soil parameters, were measured from a two-year field experiment. The results showed that: (1) The simulated evaporation was basically consistent with the measured Es, and the regulated model can effectively present the field evaporation in the whole maize growth period (R2 = 0.85, D = 0.96, p < 0.001); and (2) The trend of the simulated Tc can present the actual Tc variation, but the accuracy was not as high as the evaporation (R2 = 0.74, D = 0.87, p < 0.001), therefore, the simulation of water balance process by APSIM will be helpful in calculating Es and Tc in a humid area of Nanjing, and its application also could predict the production of maize fields in Nanjing.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document