The PILOTE-N model for improving water and nitrogen management practices: Application in a Mediterranean context

Abstract In this paper we present PILOTE-N, a crop model devoted to the calculation of crop production from the joint water and nitrogen soil status effects. It is the extension of PILOTE, for contexts in which water might not be the sole limiting factor for crop yield, but the same model structure and credo of parsimonious parameterisation have been kept, assuming simplified descriptions of the physical processes at play. One original aspect of PILOTE-N is the calculation of Leaf Area Index (LAI) and cumulative nitrogen plant demand from similar logistic-type functions. LAI is controlled by specific temperature sums, shape parameters and the occurrence of water and nitrogen stresses, while the time average of LAI values over critical phenological periods also affects the predicted harvest index and crop yield. As specific plant parameters are known from PILOTE, calibration was devoted to nitrogen parameters. Which governing the daily-averaged mineralization rate in a first step, then the two shape parameters of the potential nitrogen plant demand (from the dilution curve) in a second step and, at last, which allowing the link between nitrogen uptake and nitrogen of the soil. Model performance was evaluated using multiple initial soil conditions, irrigation and fertilization strategies for corn, durum wheat and sorghum, over a climatic series of 14 years, at the experimental plot of Lavalette (Montpellier, South-East of France), hence in a Mediterranean context characterized by severe, water stresses during summer, typically exceeding nitrogen stresses. Crop yield as well as the dynamics of nitrogen budget were correctly simulated (R2 > 0.94 for grain yield, total dry matter and nitrogen in plant). The robustness of such a simple and easy-to-calibrate tool is expected to facilitate its use and implementation in other agro-pedoclimatic contexts, to decipher the effect of abiotic stresses and improve irrigation and fertilization scenarios when included in dedicated tools.

[1]  J. Dørge.  Modelling nitrogen transformations in freshwater wetlands. Estimating nitrogen retention and removal in natural wetlands in relation to their hydrology and nutrient loadings , 1994 .

[2]  A. Vallejo,et al.  Meta-analysis of strategies to control nitrate leaching in irrigated agricultural systems and their effects on crop yield. , 2013 .

[3]  Eric Justes,et al.  Calculation of nitrogen mineralization and leaching in fallow soil using a simple dynamic model , 1999 .

[4]  Y. Jame,et al.  Mineralization rate constants and their use for estimating nitrogen mineralization in some Canadian , 1984 .

[5]  Jean-Claude Mailhol,et al.  Adapting PILOTE model for water and yield management under direct seeding system: The case of corn and durum wheat in a Mediterranean context , 2009 .

[6]  Albert Weiss,et al.  The circuitous path to the comparison of simulated values from crop models with field observations , 2006, The Journal of Agricultural Science.

[7]  E. Justes,et al.  Wheat, Barley, and Durum Wheat , 1997 .

[8]  Keith L. Bristow,et al.  Predicting Rates of Wheat Residue Decomposition , 1989 .

[9]  R. Angulo-Jaramillo,et al.  Influence of the irrigation technique and strategies on the nitrogen cycle and budget: A review , 2016 .

[10]  M. Quemada,et al.  Temperature and moisture effects on C and N mineralization from surface applied clover residue , 1997, Plant and Soil.

[11]  K. Loague,et al.  Statistical and graphical methods for evaluating solute transport models: Overview and application , 1991 .

[12]  J. C. Mailhol,et al.  Impact of fertilisation practices on nitrogen leaching under irrigation , 2001, Irrigation Science.

[13]  T. Mahmood,et al.  Denitrification and total N losses from an irrigated sandy-clay loam under maize–wheat cropping system , 1998, Plant and Soil.

[14]  I. Burns,et al.  A MODEL FOR PREDICTING THE REDISTRIBUTION OF SALTS APPLIED TO FALLOW SOILS AFTER EXCESS RAINFALL OR EVAPORATION , 1974 .

[15]  J. Nash,et al.  River flow forecasting through conceptual models part I — A discussion of principles☆ , 1970 .

[16]  Eric Viala,et al.  Water for food, water for life a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture , 2008 .

[17]  L. S. Pereira,et al.  Crop evapotranspiration : guidelines for computing crop water requirements , 1998 .

[18]  M. Khaledian,et al.  Nitrogen balance and irrigation water productivity for corn, sorghum and durum wheat under direct seeding into mulch when compared with conventional tillage in the southeastern France , 2011, Irrigation Science.

[19]  John R. Porter,et al.  A winter wheat crop simulation model without water or nutrient limitations , 1984, The Journal of Agricultural Science.

[20]  G. Studdert,et al.  Volatilizacion de amoniaco desde urea aplicada al cultivo de maíz bajo siembra directa , 1997 .

[21]  S. Recous,et al.  In situ changes in gross N transformations in bare soil after addition of straw , 1998 .

[22]  Niels Schütze,et al.  Analysis of AET and yield predictions under surface and buried drip irrigation systems using the Crop Model PILOTE and Hydrus-2D , 2011 .

[23]  D. Brown.  CERES-Maize: A simulation model of maize growth and development , 1987 .

[24]  J. Mailhol,et al.  Compensatory uptake functions in empirical macroscopic root water uptake models: experimental and numerical analysis , 2015 .

[25]  Freddie R. Lamm,et al.  Dripline Depth Effects on Corn Production when Crop Establishment is Nonlimiting , 2005 .

[26]  J. Mailhol,et al.  Sorghum and sunflower evapotranspiration and yield from simulated leaf area index , 1997 .

[27]  J. R. Ritchie,et al.  Description and performance of CERES-Wheat: a user-oriented wheat yield model , 1985 .

[28]  B. H. Janssen,et al.  Ammonia volatilization from Vertisols , 2002 .

[29]  Jan W. Hopmans,et al.  Modeling compensated root water and nutrient uptake. , 2009 .

[30]  W. Cox,et al.  Growth, yield and quality of forage maize under different nitrogen management practices , 1993 .

[31]  B. Reinoso,et al.  Comparative yield and water use efficiency of two maize hybrids differing in maturity under solid set sprinkler and two different lateral spacing drip irrigation systems in León, Spain , 2013 .

[32]  Daniel Plénet.  Fonctionnement des cultures de maïs sous contrainte azotée : détermination et application d'un indice de nutrition , 1995 .

[33]  P. E. O'connell,et al.  River flow forecasting through conceptual models part III - The Ray catchment at Grendon Underwood , 1970 .

[34]  Bruno Cheviron,et al.  A framework to use crop models for multi-objective constrained optimization of irrigation strategies , 2016, Environ. Model. Softw..

[35]  I. R. Cowan.  IN THE SOIL-PLANT-ATMOSPHERE SYSTEM , 2016 .

[36]  Philippe de Reffye,et al.  Comparing an empirical crop model with a functional structural plant model to account for individual variability , 2014 .

[37]  P. Barbieri,et al.  Nitrogen Balance as Affected by Application Time and Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate in Irrigated No‐Tillage Maize , 2004 .

[38]  H. Sinoquet,et al.  An overview of the crop model STICS , 2003 .

[39]  Philippe Tixier,et al.  Ad hoc modeling in agronomy: What have we learned in the last 15 years? , 2012 .

[40]  E. Justes,et al.  Determination of a Critical Nitrogen Dilution Curve for Winter Wheat Crops , 1994 .

[41]  Paolo Benincasa,et al.  Decreasing Nitrate Leaching in Vegetable Crops with Better N Management , 2010 .

[42]  S. Recous,et al.  Measurement of nitrogen mineralization and immobilization fluxes in soil as a means of predicting net mineralization , 1994 .

[43]  E. Lichtfouse.  Genetic Engineering, Biofertilisation, Soil Quality and Organic Farming , 2010 .

[44]  John R. Williams,et al.  The EPIC crop growth model , 1989 .

[45]  P. Döll,et al.  The Digital Global Map of Irrigation Areas - Development and Validation of Map Version 4 , 2006 .

[46]  S. Recous,et al.  STICS : a generic model for the simulation of crops and their water and nitrogen balances. I. Theory, and parameterization applied to wheat and corn , 1998 .