TITLE:
Maize Cultivar Specific Parameters for Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) Application in Tanzania
AUTHORS:
Sixbert Kajumula Mourice, Cornell Lawrence Rweyemamu, Siza Donald Tumbo, Nyambilila Amuri
KEYWORDS:
CERES-Maize; Crop System Model; Nitrogen; Phenology; Morogoro
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.6,
March
24,
2014
ABSTRACT: In order to develop
basis for tactical or strategic decision making towards agricultural productivity
improvement in Tanzania, a new approach in which crop models could be used is
required. Crop specific parameters for maize cultivars in Tanzania have not
been determined before and consequently; crop modeling approaches to address biophysical resource management challenges
has not been effective. The objective of this study was to evaluate DSSAT
(v4.5) Cropping System Model (CSM) using four adapted maize cultivars namely Stuka, Staha, TMV1 and Pioneer
HB3253 for quantifying model parameters. The results indicate that maize
cultivars did not differ significantly in terms of the number of days to
anthesis, maturity, or grain weight except final aboveground biomass. Also,
there was no difference between variables with respect to growing seasons. The
cultivar specific parameters obtained were within the acceptable range of those
for a hypothetical maize medium season cultivar (990002) included in the DSSAT
45 CSM. Model evaluation results indicate that using the estimated cultivar
coefficients, the model simulated well the effects of varying nitrogen
management as indicated by the agreement index (d-statistic) closer to unity. Therefore, it is concluded that model
calibration and evaluation was satisfactory within the limits of test
conditions, and that the model fitted with cultivar specific parameters can be
used in simulation studies for research, farm management or decision making.