title: An integrated soil-crop system model for water and nitrogen management in North China.
abstract: An integrated model WHCNS (soil Water Heat Carbon Nitrogen Simulator) was developed to assess water and nitrogen (N) management in North China. It included five main modules: soil water, soil temperature, soil carbon (C), soil N, and crop growth. The model integrated some features of several widely used crop and soil models, and some modifications were made in order to apply the WHCNS model under the complex conditions of intensive cropping systems in North China. The WHCNS model was evaluated using an open access dataset from the European International Conference on Modeling Soil Water and N Dynamics. WHCNS gave better estimations of soil water and N dynamics, dry matter accumulation and N uptake than 14 other models. The model was tested against data from four experimental sites in North China under various soil, crop, climate, and management practices. Simulated soil water content, soil nitrate concentrations, crop dry matter, leaf area index and grain yields all agreed well with measured values. This study indicates that the WHCNS model can be used to analyze and evaluate the effects of various field management practices on crop yield, fate of N, and water and N use efficiencies in North China.
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (North China), Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100193, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (North China), Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100193, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Kelin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Biosystems Engineering Department, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA.
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Batchelor
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Sanite-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada.
authors.forename: Zhiming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (North China), Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100193, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Baoguo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li