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GECROS is presented here in an open style, rather than as a ‘black-box’.
This second edition of Working with Dynamic Crop Models is meant for self-learning by researchers or for use in graduate level courses devoted to methods for working with dynamic models in crop, agricultural, and related sciences. Each chapter focuses on a particular topic and includes an introduction, a detailed explanation of the available methods, applications of the methods to one or two simple models that are followed throughout the book, real-life examples of the methods from literature, and finally a section detailing implementation of the methods using the R programming language. The consistent use of R makes this book immediately and directly applicable to scientists seeking to develop models quickly and effectively, and the selected examples ensure broad appeal to scientists in various disciplines. - 50% new content – 100% reviewed and updated - Clearly explains practical application of the methods presented, including R language examples - Presents real-life examples of core crop modeling methods, and ones that are translatable to dynamic system models in other fields
Mathematical models are being used more and more widely to study complex dynamic systems (global weather, ecological systems, hydrological systems, nuclear reactors etc. including the specific subject of this book, crop-soil systems). The models are important aids in understanding, predicting and managing these systems. Such models are complex and imperfect. One fundamental research direction is to seek a better understanding of how these systems function, and to propose mathematical expressions embodying that understanding. However, this is not sufficient. It is also essential to have tools (often mathematical and statistical methods) to aid in developing, improving and using the models built from those equations. The book is specifically concerned with the application of methods to crop models, but much of the material is also applicable to dynamic system models in other fields. The goal of this book is to fill that gap.* State-of-the-art methods explained simply and illustrated specifically for crop models* Parameter estimation – applying statistical methods to the complex case of crop models, including Bayesian methods * Includes model evaluation, understanding and estimating prediction error* Offers a unique data assimilation by using the Kalman filter and beyond
The cropping system is one of the important components of sustainable agriculture, since it provides more efficient nutrient cycling. As such, balanced fertilization must be based on the concept of sustainable crop production. Feeding the rapidly growing world population using environmentally sustainable production systems is a major challenge, especially in developing countries. A number of studies have highlighted the fact that degradation of the world's cultivated soils is largely responsible for low and plateauing yields. Soil is lost rapidly but only formed over millennia, and this represents the greatest global threat to nutrient dynamics in agriculture. This means that nutrient management is essential to provide food and nutritional security for current and future generations. Nutrient dynamics and soil sustainability imply the maintenance of the desired ecological balance, the enhancement and preservation of soil functions, and the protection of biodiversity above and below ground. Understanding the role of nutrient management as a tool for soil sustainability and nutritional security requires a holistic approach to a wide range of soil parameters (biological, physical, and chemical) to assess the soil functions and nutrient dynamics of a crop management system within the desired timescale. Further, best nutrient management approaches are important to advance soil sustainability and food and nutritional security without compromising the soil quality and productive potential. Sustainable management practices must allow environmentally and economically sustainable yields and restore soil health and sustainability. This book presents soil management approaches that can provide a wide range of benefits, including improved fertility, with a focus on the importance of nutrient dynamics. Discussing the broad impacts of nutrients cycling on the sustainability of soil and the cropping systems that it supports, it also addresses nutrient application to allow environmentally and economically sustainable agroecosystems that restore soil health. Arguing that balanced fertilization must be based on the concept of INM for a cropping system rather than a crop, it provides a roadmap to nutrient management for sustainability. This richly illustrated book features tables, figures and photographs and includes extensive up-to-date references, making it a valuable resource for policymakers and researchers, as well as undergraduate and graduate students of Soil Science, Agronomy, Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
Crop modelling has huge potential to improve decision making in farming. This collection reviews advances in next-generation models focused on user needs at the whole farm system and landscape scale.
The first premise of this book is that farmers need access to options for improving their situation. In agricultural terms, these options might be manage ment alternatives or different crops to grow, that can stabilize or increase household income, that reduce soil degradation and dependence on off-farm inputs, or that exploit local market opportunities. Farmers need a facilitating environment, in which affordable credit is available if needed, in which policies are conducive to judicious management of natural resources, and in which costs and prices of production are stable. Another key ingredient of this facilitating environment is information: an understanding of which options are viable, how these operate at the farm level, and what their impact may be on the things that farmers perceive as being important. The second premise is that systems analysis and simulation have an impor tant role to play in fostering this understanding of options, traditional field experimentation being time-consuming and costly. This book summarizes the activities of the International Benchmark Sites Network for Agrotechnology Transfer (IBSNAT) project, an international initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). IBSNAT was an attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of understanding options through systems analysis and simulation for the ultimate benefit of farm households in the tropics and subtropics. The idea for the book was first suggested at one of the last IBSNAT group meetings held at the University of Hawaii in 1993.
Maize is among the most widely spread and widely used crops of the world, used for cereals for over 4 billion humans, as food for farm animals, and as a source material for biofuel production. Yet there are relatively few books on the cropping system of this important crop. This book, Maize Agroecosystem, is a concise treatise dealing with agronomy, soil fertility, and productivity of maize. The information is global in nature and considers recent developments in all maize cropping belts. The "global maize agroecosystem" is a conglomerate of several "maize cropping belts" that flourish on different continents. The impact of nutrient management on the productivity of maize agroecosystems is the main focus of this book. The book includes the history of maize growing, the kinds of soil needed, nutrient dynamics, the use of soil organic matter, the physiology and genetics of maize, and integrated nutrient management. It presents comprehensive knowledge regarding the physicochemical dynamics of the three major nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Also covered is how fertilizers impinge on soils of maize farms and their impact on soil and groundwater quality. The impact of crop genotype on soil nutrient dynamics and productivity is also highlighted. The information provided here will be highly useful to students at colleges and universities in the fields of agricultural sciences and environmental science and ecology, and the book also functions as valuable resource for researchers and professors in crop science. Several figures and tables are included that describe and summarize the impact of various agronomic/fertilizer management procedures on crop productivity.
The Volta River Basin (VRB) is an important transboundary basin in West Africa that covers approximately 410,000 square kilometres across six countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo. Its natural resources sustain the livelihoods of its population and contribute to economic development. This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review and assessment of the issues and challenges faced. The authors provide a science-based assessment of current and future scenarios of water availability, the demands of key sectors, including agriculture and hydropower, and the environment under changing demographic, economic, social and climatic conditions. They also identify solutions and strategies that will allow available water resources to be sustainably used to improve agricultural productivity, food security and economic growth in the VRB. Overall, the work examines from a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective the solutions and strategies to improve the use of water and other natural resources in the VRB to achieve enhanced food security, livelihoods and economic growth.
This book provides a discussion on the applications, management and impact of cropping systems. Chapter One reviews the possibility of using intercropping, especially strip intercropping, as an effective and economically efficient crop biofortification. Chapter Two evaluates phosphorus dynamics in the soil-plant system under different management practices in the semiarid land of Pampas, Argentina. Chapter Three focuses on long-term winter wheat cropping and it's influence on soil quality and yield stability. Chapter Four examines gender-based socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers; gender-based climate change awareness of cassava farmers; gender-based cassava farmers' constraints to climate change adaptation and examines the factors influencing gender-based cassava farmers' choice of adaptation strategies in the study area. Chapter Five studies the increased soil fertility in a long-term rice-oilseed rape cropping system and its potential roles in reducing nitrogen inputs and in the environment.