NITROGEN UPTAKE IN FIELD VEGETABLE PRODUCTION: MODELING BROADCAST AND ROW APPLICATION

Field vegetable production is characterized by a high residual soil nitrate content, leading to high leaching losses.
A better understanding of the nitrogen balance under common farming practices can contribute to a more sensible nitrogen management.
Simulation models can help to achieve this goal.
In this study, a novel approach is presented to model the nitrogen uptake under broadcast and row application of fertilizer via a quasi 2-D approach.
In this approach a mechanistic 1-D soil model is supplemented with a generic crop module.
Parallel simulations are performed for a rooted field fraction and a rootless field fraction and information between these simulations is exchanged and updated on a daily basis.
Validation of this approach was done in a field experiment with cauliflower.
Via the quasi 2-D approach it was possible to simulate an increased nitrogen uptake with row application, although this was not represented in the measured data.

IV International Symposium on Models for Plant Growth, Environmental Control and Farm Management in Protected Cultivation – HortiModel2012

J. Vansteenkiste, J. Van Loon, R.F. Heuts, E. Schrevens, J. Diels

simulation, cauliflower, fertilizer placement, residual nitrogen, quasi 2-D

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.957.12