| Records |
| Author |
Castañeda-Vera, A.; Leffelaar, P.A.; Álvaro-Fuentes, J.; Cantero-Martínez, C.; Mínguez, M.I. |
| Title |
Selecting crop models for decision making in wheat insurance |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2015 |
Publication |
European Journal of Agronomy |
Abbreviated Journal |
European Journal of Agronomy |
| Volume |
68 |
Issue |
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Pages |
97-116 |
| Keywords |
aquacrop; ceres-wheat; cropsyst; wofost; model choice; rainfed semi-arid areas; radiation use efficiency; water deficit; use efficiency; management-practices; farming systems; field-capacity; soil; yield; evaporation; photosynthesis; transpiration; irrigation |
Abstract  |
In crop insurance, the accuracy with which the insurer quantifies the actual risk is highly dependent on the availability on actual yield data. Crop models might be valuable tools to generate data on expected yields for risk assessment when no historical records are available. However, selecting a crop model for a specific objective, location and implementation scale is a difficult task. A look inside the different crop and soil modules to understand how outputs are obtained might facilitate model choice. The objectives of this paper were (i) to assess the usefulness of crop models to be used within a crop insurance analysis and design and (ii) to select the most suitable crop model for drought risk assessment in semi-arid regions in Spain. For that purpose first, a pre-selection of crop models simulating wheat yield under rainfed growing conditions at the field scale was made, and second, four selected models (Aquacrop, CERES-Wheat, CropSyst and WOFOST) were compared in terms of modelling approaches, process descriptions and model outputs. Outputs of the four models for the simulation of winter wheat growth are comparable when water is not limiting, but differences are larger when simulating yields under rainfed conditions. These differences in rainfed yields are mainly related to the dissimilar simulated soil water availability and the assumed linkages with dry matter formation. We concluded that for the simulation of winter wheat growth at field scale in such semi-arid conditions, CERES-Wheat and CropSyst are preferred. WOFOST is a satisfactory compromise between data availability and complexity when detail data on soil is limited. Aquacrop integrates physiological processes in some representative parameters, thus diminishing the number of input parameters, what is seen as an advantage when observed data is scarce. However, the high sensitivity of this model to low water availability limits its use in the region considered. Contrary to the use of ensembles of crop models, we endorse that efforts be concentrated on selecting or rebuilding a model that includes approaches that better describe the agronomic conditions of the regions in which they will be applied. The use of such complex methodologies as crop models is associated with numerous sources of uncertainty, although these models are the best tools available to get insight in these complex agronomic systems. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
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English |
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1161-0301 |
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CropM |
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no |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4710 |
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Legarrea, S.; Velázquez, E.; Aguado, P.; Fereres, A.; Morales, I.; Rodríguez, D.; Del Estal, P.; Viñuela, E. |
| Title |
Effects of a photoselective greenhouse cover on the performance and host finding ability of Aphidius ervi in a lettuce crop |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2014 |
Publication |
BioControl |
Abbreviated Journal |
BioControl |
| Volume |
59 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
265-278 |
| Keywords |
aphidius ervi; macrosiphum euphorbiae; uv-absorbing net; parasitoid; sadie; spatial distribution; integrated pest-management; natural enemies; plastic films; mosaic-virus; insect pests; count data; pea aphid; uv; parasitoids; hymenoptera |
| Abstract |
In the search for a durable pest control management, biological control agents and photoselective covers are suitable candidates to be implemented in greenhouse crops. In this work, we studied the effects of a 50 mesh photoselective cover compared to a standard with similar characteristics but without UV-absorbing additives on the performance of Aphidius ervi Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a widely used parasitoid to control aphids in vegetable crops. Four field experiments were conducted in La Poveda Experimental Farm (Central Spain) where a lettuce crop was grown during the years 2008-2010. Lettuce plants were infested by Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and the parasitoid A. ervi was released and monitored throughout the crop cycle to evaluate any constraint in its performance produced by UV-absorbing nets. The ability of A. ervi to find and parasitize the host was not modified by the photoselective cover during the four seasons studied. Thus, we suggest that both strategies could be combined in the context of IPM in vegetable crops where this natural enemy is released. |
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1386-6141, 1573-8248 |
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CropM |
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MA @ admin @ |
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4509 |
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Kahiluoto, H.; Kaseva, J.; Hakala, K.; Himanen, S.J.; Jauhiainen, L.; Rötter, R.P.; Salo, T.; Trnka, M. |
| Title |
Cultivating resilience by empirically revealing response diversity |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2014 |
Publication |
Global Environmental Change |
Abbreviated Journal |
Glob. Environ. Change |
| Volume |
25 |
Issue |
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Pages |
186-193 |
| Keywords |
generic approach; climate change; food security; agrifood systems; cultivars; adaptive capacity; climate-change; functional diversity; plant-communities; genetic diversity; biodiversity; ecosystems; management; redundancy; evenness; weather |
| Abstract |
Intensified climate and market turbulence requires resilience to a multitude of changes. Diversity reduces the sensitivity to disturbance and fosters the capacity to adapt to various future scenarios. What really matters is diversity of responses. Despite appeals to manage resilience, conceptual developments have not yet yielded a break-through in empirical applications. Here, we present an approach to empirically reveal the ‘response diversity’: the factors of change that are critical to a system are identified, and the response diversity is determined based on the documented component responses to these factors. We illustrate this approach and its added value using an example of securing food supply in the face of climate variability and change. This example demonstrates that quantifying response diversity allows for a new perspective: despite continued increase in cultivar diversity of barley, the diversity in responses to weather declined during the last decade in the regions where most of the barley is grown in Finland. This was due to greater homogeneity in responses among new cultivars than among older ones. Such a decline in the response diversity indicates increased vulnerability and reduced resilience. The assessment serves adaptive management in the face of both ecological and socioeconomic drivers. Supplier diversity in the food retail industry in order to secure affordable food in spite of global price volatility could represent another application. The approach is, indeed, applicable to any system for which it is possible to adopt empirical information regarding the response by its components to the critical factors of variability and change. Targeting diversification in response to critical change brings efficiency into diversity. We propose the generic procedure that is demonstrated in this study as a means to efficiently enhance resilience at multiple levels of agrifood systems and beyond. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. |
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English |
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0959-3780 |
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CropM |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4525 |
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Daccache, A.; Ciurana, J.S.; Diaz, J.A.R.; Knox, J.W. |
| Title |
Water and energy footprint of irrigated agriculture in the Mediterranean region |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2014 |
Publication |
Environmental Research Letters |
Abbreviated Journal |
Environ. Res. Lett. |
| Volume |
9 |
Issue |
12 |
Pages |
124014 |
| Keywords |
food security; CO2 emissions; nexus; water productivity; water resources; climate-change; southern spain; management; impacts; deficit; grids |
| Abstract |
Irrigated agriculture constitutes the largest consumer of freshwater in the Mediterranean region and provides a major source of income and employment for rural livelihoods. However, increasing droughts and water scarcity have highlighted concerns regarding the environmental sustainability of agriculture in the region. An integrated assessment combining a gridded water balance model with a geodatabase and GIS has been developed and used to assess the water demand and energy footprint of irrigated production in the region. Modelled outputs were linked with crop yield and water resources data to estimate water (m(3) kg(-1)) and energy (CO2 kg(-1)) productivity and identify vulnerable areas or `hotspots’. For a selected key crops in the region, irrigation accounts for 61 km(3) yr(-1) of water abstraction and 1.78 Gt CO2 emissions yr-1, with most emissions from sunflower (73 kg CO2/t) and cotton (60 kg CO2/t) production. Wheat is a major strategic crop in the region and was estimated to have a water productivity of 1000 tMm(-3) and emissions of 31 kg CO2/t. Irrigation modernization would save around 8 km(3) of water but would correspondingly increase CO2 emissions by around +135\%. Shifting from rain-fed to irrigated production would increase irrigation demand to 166 km(3) yr(-1) (+137\%) whilst CO2 emissions would rise by +270\%. The study has major policy implications for understanding the water-energy-food nexus in the region and the trade-offs between strategies to save water, reduce CO2 emissions and/or intensify food production. |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1748-9326 |
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CropM, ft_macsur |
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no |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4747 |
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Mansouri, M.; Dumont, B.; Leemans, V.; Destain, M.-F. |
| Title |
Bayesian methods for predicting LAI and soil water content |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2014 |
Publication |
Precision Agriculture |
Abbreviated Journal |
Precision Agric. |
| Volume |
15 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
184-201 |
| Keywords |
crop model; bayes; data assimilation; extended kalman filtering; particle filtering; variational filtering; leaf-area index; parameter-estimation; crop models; moisture; instruments; management; sensors; state |
| Abstract |
LAI of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and soil water content of the topsoil (200 mm) and of the subsoil (500 mm) were considered as state variables of a dynamic soil-crop system. This system was assumed to progress according to a Bayesian probabilistic state space model, in which real values of LAI and soil water content were daily introduced in order to correct the model trajectory and reach better future evolution. The chosen crop model was mini STICS which can reduce the computing and execution times while ensuring the robustness of data processing and estimation. To predict simultaneously state variables and model parameters in this non-linear environment, three techniques were used: extended Kalman filtering (EKF), particle filtering (PF), and variational filtering (VF). The significantly improved performance of the VF method when compared to EKF and PF is demonstrated. The variational filter has a low computational complexity and the convergence speed of states and parameters estimation can be adjusted independently. Detailed case studies demonstrated that the root mean square error of the three estimated states (LAI and soil water content of two soil layers) was smaller and that the convergence of all considered parameters was ensured when using VF. Assimilating measurements in a crop model allows accurate prediction of LAI and soil water content at a local scale. As these biophysical properties are key parameters in the crop-plant system characterization, the system has the potential to be used in precision farming to aid farmers and decision makers in developing strategies for site-specific management of inputs, such as fertilizers and water irrigation. |
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Edition |
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| ISSN |
1385-2256 |
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CropM, ftnotmacsur |
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no |
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MA @ admin @ |
Serial |
4629 |
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