PRINCIPLES OF CROP GROWTH

SIMULATION MODELLING

Nitrogen-limited production
 The Rice System and boundary at field level

Radiation, CO2 O2

Temperature,

Nitrogen

Soil N uptake
 PROCESSES OF CROP GROWTH

I. N demand by crop
• Potential N demand
• Potential N uptake

II. N availability in the soil

• Indigenous soil N supply

• N fertilizer application
III. Nitrogen-driven crop growth

• Actual crop N uptake

• N translocation
• Effects of N limitations on crop growth
I. N demand by crop
 Basic assumption:
crop strives towards maximal N content

-1
Fraction N in leaves (kg N kg dry matter)
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03 NMAXL

0.02
seedbed
0.01 NMINL

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2

Development stage (-)

Stem N content 
50% leaf N content
Panicle N content = f(N in crop at flowering)

2.0 N in panicle at harvest (% )

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
0 50 100 150 200 250

N in crop at flowering (kg ha )

1
1. Daily potential N demand by leaves (NDleaf):
NDleaf = N%max(Wleaf +Wleaf) - Nleaf (kg N ha-1 d-1)

2. Daily potential N demand by crop (NDcrop):

NDcrop = NDleaf + NDstem + NDpanicle (kg N ha-1 d-1)
Translocation

3. Daily maximum N uptake by crop is

physiologically limited: max is 8 kg N ha-1 d-1
=> Potential N uptake = minimum(NDcrop,8)
I. N availability in the soil
 Indigenous soil N supply

• Mineralization (SOM turnover)

• N in rain
• Biological N fixation

In ORYZA2000: no dynamic soil N modelling

Soil N supply estimated from :
1. (total N uptake in 0-N trials )/duration
2. fine-tuning by model calibration
At IRRI: Soil N supply 0.5-0.8 kg N ha-1 d-1
 Fertilizer N supply

Fertilizer application x recovery fraction

Recovery fraction is calculated from

experiments 1
0.9
Aggarwal et al., 1997
0.8
Peng and Cassman, 1998
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2 PI Flowering Maturity
0.1
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2

Development stage
 Total soil N availability

1. Indigenous soil N supply

+
2. Fertilizer application x recovery fraction

Unrecovered fertilizer N is either “lost” or

carried over to next season’s crop
III. Nitrogen-driven crop growth
Actual crop N uptake

Crop N demand

Actual N uptake
= minimum (demand, supply)

Soil N supply
(indigenous + fertilizer)
N redistribution

Panicle

N translocation

Stem
Leaf N loss

N uptake

Soil
Effect of N in crop on growth
1. Leaf photosynthesis
Van Keulen and
Seligman, 1987

In ORYZA2000:
Adapted based on
Shaobing Peng data
2. Leaf expansion rate
Leaf expansion reduction factor =
f (actual N% leaf, maximum N% leaf)

3. Accelerated leaf death rate

Accelerated leaf leaf death factor =
f (actual N crop, maximum N crop)
 Light


Development Photosynthesis LAI N

rate

Development Partitioning
stage

Leaves N

Assimilate Stems N
Biomass
pool
Panicles N

Maintenance Growth Roots

respiration respiration

Stem N
uptake

Crop model Leaves N

uptake

Nitrogen-limited Indigenous
soil N
Production Soil N
available

Net fertilizer N
supply
 Input

1. Weather data: daily temperature, radiation

=> Weather data file
2. Management, additional: fertilizer N
application, fertilizer N recovery, soil N supply
=> Experiment data file
3. Crop characteristics, additional: Max and min N
contents of organs, Max N uptake, etc
=> Crop data file
Experimental data file
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
* 6. Nitrogen parameters *
*--------------------------------------------------------------------*
SOILSP = 0.8 ! Indigenous soil N supply (kg N/ha/d) (0.8)

* Table of fertilizer rate (kg N/ha) (second column) versus days after sowing
* in the seed-bed (!) (first column)
FERTIL =
0., 0.,
11., 0.,
12., 60.,
13., 0.,
29., 0.,
30., 60.,
31., 0.,
66., 0.,
67., 60.,
68., 0.,
94., 0.,
95., 45.,
96., 0.,
366., 0.

* Table of recovery fraction of Nitrogen in the soil (-) second column

* versus development stage (DVS) (first column) STANDARD VALUE
RECNIT =
0.0, 0.30,
0.2, 0.35,
0.4, 0.50,
0.8, 0.75,
1.0, 0.75,
2.5, 0.75
 Output

• Time course of leaf area index, biomass

of various crop organs
• Time course of crop N contents and
crop N uptake
• Yield, yield components
7

Leaf Area
6
Index
5

4
IR72, Los Baños
3

2
Dry season 1992
1

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
TIME

18000 18000

16000
Biomass 16000
Total
14000 14000

12000 12000
Panicle
10000 10000

8000 8000

6000 6000

4000
Leaves 4000

2000 2000

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
TIME TIME

225 kg N ha-1 0 kg N ha-1

 Fraction leaf N ( kg kg–1)

0.05
N content in
0.04
Nmax
leaves
0.03

0.02

Nmin
225 kg N ha-1
0.01

0.00
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
DVS

0.05

0.04
Nmax

0.03

0.02

Nmin
0.01

0.00
0 kg N ha-1
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
DVS
Development stage
 Yie ld (kg / ha )
11 IR72; 1993 DS
17 treatments
0-400 kg N ha-1
Different splits
N s upply (kg / ha ) N upta ke (kg / ha )

400 300

 Observed
o Simulated

400
N s upply (kg / ha )