Performance of a fertiliser management algorithm to balance yield and nitrogen losses in dairy systems

Rogerio Cichota, Iris Vogeler, Armin Werner, Kathryn Wigley and Brittany Paton

Agricultural Systems, 2018, vol. 162, issue C, 56-65

Abstract: To demonstrate the use of a previously developed fertilisation algorithm and to determine its potential effects on nitrogen (N) losses from grazed pastoral systems, a simulation study was performed using the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM). The study considered a dairy system with irrigated ryegrass pasture on a silt loam soil in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Firstly, the algorithm was parameterised for each month based on pasture yield and N contents from simulation run over 20 years using a wide range of N fertilisation rates. The algorithm was then used in the simulation of fertilisation management of a hypothetical dairy farm under different scenarios where its performance for increasing pasture yield with more efficient N use was tested. The scenarios were based on different yield targets for the proposed algorithm (50, 75, 90 or 100% of the average maximum yield) and included scheduled fertilisation to mimic more typical management. For more realistic evaluation, the simulations took into account changes in stocking rates and N flows in the farm resulting from the different fertiliser management. The simulations also considered the uneven return of urinary N by grazing animals, which are crucial to determine N losses in these systems.

Keywords: APSIM modelling; Ryegrass pasture; Pasture N content; Optimum N fertilisation rate; Grazing system; N leaching (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:162:y:2018:i:c:p:56-65

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2018.01.017

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