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Simulation of water-limited growth of the forage shrub saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl.) in a low-rainfall environment of southern Australia

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Title Simulation of water-limited growth of the forage shrub saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl.) in a low-rainfall environment of southern Australia
 
Creator Descheemaeker, Katrien
 
Contributor Smith, A. P.
Robertson, Michael
Whitbread, Anthony
Huth, Neil
Davoren, W.
Emms, J.
Llewellyn, Rick
 
Subject biomass partitioning
eyres green
farming systems model
radiation use efficiency
rooting depth.
 
Description Old man saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl.) is a useful forage shrub for livestock in the low-rainfall areas of
the world, and particularly in Australia. In these semi-arid and arid environments, saltbush is valuable for increasing the
production from otherwise marginal areas of the farm and during drought periods when there are few feed alternatives. The
ability to predict the growth and development of perennial forages such as old man saltbush in response to rainfall, soils and
farm management is necessary for farming system planning and design purposes. A field experiment was conducted at
Waikerie, South Australia, to inform the development of a new forage shrub model for use in the APSIM framework. The
model takes into account the common setup of saltbush plantations in alley systems, by simulating light interception and
water uptake for interacting shrub and inter-row zones separately. This is done by modelling the canopy and root system
development. Field data across three soil types along a landscape catena showed that the model was able to satisfactorily
predict daily biomass accumulation, partitioning into leaf and woody biomass, and regrowth after grazing. The model was
sensitive to properties associated with the root system, and with limited parameterisation can be tailored to simulate different
clonal cultivars. The model can now be used in the APSIM framework to assess temporal and spatial dynamics of forage
systems combining shrubs with herbaceous pasture components.
 
Date 2014-10-07
2017-01-09T21:17:42Z
2017-01-09T21:17:42Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/download/hash/70CMTE3X
Katrien Descheemaeker, A. P. Smith, Michael Robertson, Anthony Whitbread, Neil Huth, W. Davoren, J. Emms, Rick Llewellyn. (7/10/2014). Simulation of water-limited growth of the forage shrub saltbush (Atriplex nummularia Lindl. ) in a low-rainfall environment of southern Australia. Crop and Pasture Science, 67(2), pp. 1068-1083.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/5387
Limited access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher CSIRO Publishing
 
Source Crop and Pasture Science;67,(2014) Pagination 1068,1083