Simulation modelingPaperback, 4 August 2011

Climatic variation, continuously increasing population and market infrastructure are driven forces to reduce agricultural productivity and new management options and appropriate genotypes are the need of the day to be considered for sustainable production. Crop simulation models can be complementary tools in field experiments to develop innovative crop management systems under continuous varying climatic conditions. In this perspective, two dynamic crop growth models viz., APSIM (Agricultural Production System Simulator) and DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agro Technology Transfer) were calibrated and validated to predict growth and yield of wheat under rainfed conditions for Pothwar region of Pakistan. Experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with five wheat varieties namely; Tatara, NARC-2009, Sehar-2006, SKD-1 and F-Sarhad were planted by keeping individual plot size of 5 m x 3 m with row spacing of 25 cm. Both the models were parameterized using different agronomic parameters (phenological development, days after sowing, drymatter accumulation, leaf area index and grain yield) and climatic data.