Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2021
Calibrating and testing APSIM for wheat-faba bean pure cultures and intercrops across Europe
Berghuijs, Herman N. C.; Weih, Martin; van der Werf, Wopke; Karley, Alison J.; Adam, Eveline; Villegas-Fernandez, Angel M.; Kiaer, Lars P.; Newton, Adrian C.; Scherber, Christoph; Tavoletti, Stefano; Vico, GiuliaAbstract
Cereal-legume intercropping can increase yields, reduce fertilizer input and improve soil quality compared with pure culture. Designing intercropping systems requires the integration of plant species trait selection with choice of crop configuration and management. Crop growth models can facilitate the understanding and prediction of the interactions between plant traits, crop configuration and management. However, currently no existing crop growth model has been calibrated and tested for cereal-legume intercrops throughout Europea. We calibrated the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) for pure cultures of wheat and faba bean using data from Dutch field trials, and determined the phenological parameters to simulate pure cultures and intercrops from seven field experiments across Europe. APSIM successfully reproduced aboveground dry matters and, for wheat only, grain yields in pure cultures. In intercrops, APSIM systematically overestimated the aboveground dry matter and grain yield of faba bean and underestimated those of wheat. APSIM was reasonably capable of simulating plant heights in pure cultures, but respectively overestimated and underestimated the height of faba bean and wheat in intercrops. In order to simulate wheat-faba bean intercrops better, APSIM should be improved regarding the calculation of biomass partitioning to grains in faba bean and of height growth in both species.Keywords
Intercrop; Mixtures; Modeling; APSIM; Europe; Wheat; Faba bean; Triticum aestivum; Vicia fabaPublished in
Field Crops Research2021, volume: 264, article number: 108088
Publisher: ELSEVIER
Authors' information
Berghuijs, Herman
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Crop Production Ecology
Berghuijs, Herman N.C. (Berghuijs, Herman N.C.)
Wageningen University and Research
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Crop Production Ecology
van der Werf, Wopke
Wageningen University and Research
Adam, Eveline
Saatzucht Gleisdorf GmbH
Karley, Alison J.
James Hutton Institute
Villegas-Fernandez, Angel M.
CSIC - Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS)
Kiær, Lars P.
University of Copenhagen
Newton, Adrian C.
James Hutton Institute
Scherber, Christoph
University of Munster
Tavoletti, Stefano
Marche Polytechnic University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Crop Production Ecology
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2021.108088
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/111455