Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) Simulates: v yield of crops, pastures, trees, weeds... v key soil processes (water, N, P, carbon, pH) v surface residue dynamics & erosion v range of management options v crop rotations + fallowing + mixtures v short or long term effects v one or two dimensions v high software engineering standards v BUT, not yet pests nor diseases

APSIM - developmental goals v Production and profit u sought to retain yield prediction in relation to management options and environment (c/f - CERES, CROPGRO models) v Fate of the soil resource u sought valid long-term simulation of key soil processes (c/f - CENTURY, EPIC) v Impacts off-farm u predict loss of soil, water, nutrients off-site (c/f - EPIC)

APSIM - some statistics v Development team u 7 programmers / model support staff u 12 scientist / modellers v User base u 180 licensed users u 9 countries, 4 continents v Product Suite u ca. 450,000 lines of code u 4 languages u 38 modules u 12 interfaces or major tools

Developing our knowledge & capability - APSIM modules Crop/pasture/tree wheatsorghum sugarcanechickpea mungbeansoybean barleygroundnut maizesunflower hemplucerne fababeancanola lupinmucuna cowpeaPinus radiata Eucalyptus sp. cotton - CSIRO PI pearl millet - ICRISAT pigeonpea - ICRISAT Soil SoilWat SWIM SoilN SoilP SoilpH Solute Residue Manure - ICRISAT Management Sowing Tillage Irrigate Fertilize Intercrop/mixture competition

Multiple user interfaces – e.g. APSFront interface

APSIM has been used to simulate … Some examples

Pigeonpea qualitative photoperiod response …physiological processes

…plant organs Tiller leaf area in millet

…crop growth & development Growth & development of pigeonpea

Cowpea Observed Predicted 1:1 line Grain (g/m2) Biomass (g/m2) Chickpea y = 0.87x R 2 = Observed Predicted Mungbean y = x R 2 = yields 1:1 line regression Predicted Observed Predictionnregression lineR 2 slopeintercept wheat grain maize grain (  0.04) -5.5 (  240)0.85 chickpea grain (  0.07)163 (  172)0.76 mungbean grain (  0.10)-27.2 (  128)0.72 cowpea grain (  0.08)-31.6 (  34.6)0.91 stylo biomass (  0.06) (  171)0.78 …yield of experimental crops

…yield of commercial crops v APSIM tested against data from commercial farms v Crops include cotton, sorghum, mungbean, wheat, chickpea

… yield of smallholder crops Maize response to N in MalawiMaize response to N & manure in Kenya Maize response to N at Makoholi

… N response in smallholder crops Testing simulation of maize response to N at Makoholi over 7 seasons

… seasonal perspectives How representative were the seasons at Makoholi?

… yield of crops in rotation Lines = predicted Symbols = observed Wheat-Sorghum Long Fallow rotation

WheatSorgham … soil water of crops in rotation Wheat-Sorghum Long Fallow rotation

93 Wheat, Lucerne measured in lysimeter … ET of crops in rotation

… legume rotation effects Maize response (TBM) to fertiliser N following pigeonpea, India

… consequence of crop rotations $GMdrainage wheat-wheat-mungbean- sorghum-chickpea rotation

… soil organic matter changes Farming systems on a vertisol at Dalby, Qld.

…crop-weed competition Maize – volunteer stylo

…response to manure application High & low quality manure applied to maize

… response to N, P fertilizer & manure Maize response to P rates in Kenya Response to N, P and manure, India

… “on-farm” constraints Response to 36 kg N/ha

Enabling landholder assessment of the productivity and risk of commercial agroforestry investment on grain farms in Australia’s medium to low rainfall regions … agroforestry systems

… change in wheat production under climate change

… but can you use such technical information with farmers?

YES…but the information needs to be made relevant to farmers’ realities

Source: Peter Carberry CSIRO, Australia Click the back button on your browser to return to the main menu