Abstract: Agronomic research is important to identify suitable options for improving soil carbon (C) sequestration and reducing soil CO2 emissions. Therefore, the objectives of this study were i) to analyse the on-farm effects of different nitrogen fertilization sources on soil respiration, ii) to explore the effect of fertilization on soil respiration sensitivity to soil temperature (T) and iii) to assess the effect of the different fertilization regimes on the soil C balance. We hypothesized that i) the soil CO2 emission dynamics in Mediterranean irrigated cropping systems were mainly affected by fertilization management and T and ii) fertilization affected the soil C budget via different C inputs and CO2 efflux. Four fertilization systems (farmyard manure, cattle slurry, cattle slurry + mineral, and mineral) were compared in a double-crop rotation based on silage maize (Zea mays L) and a mixture of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and oats (Avena sativa L). The research was performed in the dairy district of Arborea, in the coastal zone of Sardinia (Italy), from May 2011 to May 2012. The soil was a Psammentic Palexeralfs with a sandy texture (940 g sand kg(-1)). The soil total respiration (SR), heterotrophic respiration (Rh), T and soil water content (SWC) were simultaneously measured in situ. The soil C balance was computed considering the Rh C losses and the soil C inputs from fertilizer and crop residues. The results showed that the maximum soil CO2 emission rates soon after the application of organic fertilizer reached values up to 121,1111 1 111(-2) s(-1). On average, the manure fertilizer showed significantly higher CO2 emissions, which resulted in a negative annual C balance (-2.9 t ha(-1)). T also affected the soil respiration temporal dynamics during the summer, consistently with results obtained in other temperate climatic regions that are characterized by wet summers and contrary to results from rainfed Mediterranean systems where the summer SR and Rh are constrained by the low SWC. The sensitivity of soil respiration to temperature significantly increased with C input from fertilizer. In conclusion, this research supported the hypotheses tested. Furthermore, the results indicated that i) soil CO2 efflux was significantly affected by fertilization management and T, and ii) fertilization with manure increased the soil respiration and resulted in a significantly negative soil C budget. This latter finding could be primarily explained by a reduction in productivity and, consequently, in crop residue with organic fertilization alone as compared to mineral, by the favourable SWC and T for mineralization, and by the sandy soil texture, which hindered the formation of macroaggregates and hence soil C stabilization, making fertilizer organic inputs highly susceptible to mineralization. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The accurate estimation of crop grain nitrogen (N; N in grain yield) is crucial for optimizing agricultural N management, especially in crop rotations. In the present study, 12 process-based models were applied to simulate the grain N of i) seven crops in rotations, ii) across various pedo-climatic and agro-management conditions in Europe, under both continuous simulation and single year simulation, and for iv) two calibration levels, namely minimal and detailed calibration. Generally, the results showed that the accuracy of the simulations in predicting grain N increased under detailed calibration. The models performed better in predicting the grain N of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), winter barley (Hordewn vulgare L.) and spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) compared to spring oat (Avena saliva L.), winter rye (Secale cereale L.), pea (Piswn sativum L.) and winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). These differences are linked to the intensity of parameterization with better parameterized crops showing lower prediction errors. The model performance was influenced by N fertilization and irrigation treatments, and a majority of the predictions were more accurate under low N and rainfed treatments. Moreover, the multi-model mean provided better predictions of grain N compared to any individual model. In regard to the Individual models, DAISY, FASSET, HERMES, MONICA and STICS are suitable for predicting grain N of the main crops in typical European crop rotations, which all performed well in both continuous simulation and single year simulation. Our results show that both the model initialization and the cover crop effects in crop rotations should be considered in order to achieve good performance of continuous simulation. Furthermore, the choice of either continuous simulation or single year simulation should be guided by the simulation objectives (e.g. grain yield, grain N content or N dynamics), the crop sequence (inclusion of legumes) and treatments (rate and type of N fertilizer) included in crop rotations and the model formalism.

Abstract: In this study, the performance of nine widely used and accessible crop growth simulation models (APES-ACE, CROPSYST, DAISY, DSSAT-CERES, FASSET, HERMES, MONICA, STICS and WOFOST) was compared during 44 growing seasons of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L) at seven sites in Northern and Central Europe. The aims of this model comparison were to examine how different process-based crop models perform at multiple sites across Europe when applied with minimal information for model calibration of spring barley at field scale, whether individual models perform better than the multi-model mean, and what the uncertainty ranges are in simulated grain yields. The reasons for differences among the models and how results for barley compare to winter wheat are discussed. Regarding yield estimation, best performing based on the root mean square error (RMSE) were models HERMES, MONICA and WOFOST with lowest values of 1124, 1282 and 1325 (kg ha(-1)), respectively. Applying the index of agreement (IA), models WOFOST, DAISY and HERMES scored best having highest values (0.632, 0.631 and 0.585, respectively). Most models systematically underestimated yields, whereby CROPSYST showed the highest deviation as indicated by the mean bias error (MBE) (-1159 kg ha(-1)). While the wide range of simulated yields across all sites and years shows the high uncertainties in model estimates with only restricted calibration, mean predictions from the nine models agreed well with observations. Results of this paper also show that models that were more accurate in predicting phenology were not necessarily the ones better estimating grain yields. Total above-ground biomass estimates often did not follow the patterns of grain yield estimates and, thus, harvest indices were also different. Estimates of soil moisture dynamics varied greatly. In comparison, even though the growing cycle for winter wheat is several months longer than for spring barley, using RMSE and IA as indicators, models performed slightly, but not significantly, better in predicting wheat yields. Errors in reproducing crop phenology were similar, which in conjunction with the shorter growth cycle of barley has higher effects on accuracy in yield prediction. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.