Cropping systems models have evolved over the last four decades in response to the demand for modeling to address more complex questions, including issues on sustainable production, climate change, and environmental impacts. Early models, which were used primarily for yield gap analysis, have increased in complexity to include not only nutrient and water deficiencies, but also pest and disease ...

A novel geospatial tool box named Geospatial Simulation (GeoSim) has been developed, which can be used to manage point-based model simulations at multiple locations using geospatial data within a geographic information system (GIS). The objectives of this paper were to describe GeoSim and demonstrate its use. GeoSim has been developed as a plug-in for Quantum GIS, and both of these software pro...

Rainfall onset date (ROD) influences farmer planting decisions, yet there is a dearth of information on the extent to which ROD crop yield. This study assesses effect yield four crops (Maize, millet, rice, and sorghum) in Ghana. It uses yields from Ministry Food Agriculture (MoFA) Organization (FAO), employs Decision Support System for Agro-technology Transfer (DSSAT) model simulate maize 1985 ...

It is a common practice to grow winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as a dual-purpose crop in the U.S. Southern Great Plains to decrease production risk and to increase profit margin through cattle (Bos taurus) production. Crop management of the dual-purpose wheat is complex because of the tradeoffs between beef production and wheat grain yield. A wheat grazing model helps in making optimal dec...

Cropping systems models have evolved over the last four decades in response to the demand for modeling to address more complex questions, including issues on sustainable production, climate change, and environmental impacts. Early models, which were used primarily for yield gap analysis, have increased in complexity to include not only nutrient and water deficiencies, but also pest and disease ...

J. Kihara et al. (eds.), Improving Soil Fertility Recommendations in Africa using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT), DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2960-5_3, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012 Abstract Africa is the continent with the lowest fertilizer use per hectare notwithstanding the fact it possesses geologically old, infertile and degraded soils. This c...