LINTUL3, a simulation model for nitrogen-limited situations: Application to rice

LINTUL3 is a crop model that calculates biomass production based on intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and light use efficiency (LUE). It is an adapted version of LINTUL2 (that simulates potential and water-limited crop growth), including nitrogen limitation. Nitrogen stress in the model is defined through the nitrogen nutrition index (NNI): the ratio of actual nitrogen concentration and critical nitrogen concentration in the plant. The effect of nitrogen stress on crop growth is tested in the model either through a reduction in LUE or leaf area (LA) or a combination of these two and further evaluated with independent datasets. However, water limitation is not considered in the present study as the crop is paddy rice. This paper describes the model for the case of rice, test the hypotheses of N stress on crop growth and details of model calibration and testing using independent data sets of nitrogen treatments (with fertilizer rates of 0–400 kg N ha-1) under varying environmental conditions in Asia. Results of calibration and testing are compared graphically, through Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD), and by Average Absolute Deviation (AAD). Overall average absolute deviation values for calibration and testing of total aboveground biomass show less than 26% mean deviation from the observations though the values for individual experiments show a higher deviation up to 41%. In general, the model responded well to nitrogen stress in all the treatments without fertilizer application as observed, but between fertilized treatments the response was varying