Simulating the growth and development of sweet sorghum

Conference · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1983 · ASAE Tech. Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5126874

Bender, D A

An existing dynamic grain sorghum growth model was modified to predict the growth and development of sweet sorghum. Modifications were made to the leaf area/stalk length, leaf extinction and dry matter partitioning modules. The model predicted dates of half-bloom and physiological maturity for sweet sorghum with good accuracy. Total dry matter was consistently underpredicted, suggesting the need for further model refinements (e.g. potential net photosynthesis calculation). Dry matter partitioning was calibrated with one set of field data and was checked with another data set. The dry matter partitioning modifications checked out well for the two data sets; however, more research is required to expand the confidence of the empirical partitioning procedure. Another area of future research should be the partitioning of dry matter into fermentable and nonfermentable portions. One potential use of a dynamic sweet sorghum model would be to schedule commercial harvesting systems. Other production interactions could also be investigated to assess the implications of integrating sorghum into established cropping systems. Economic assessments could also be made by entering the yield coefficients from the crop model into a linear programming framework. Eventually, validated crop growth models could be transferred from the research arena to agricultural producers, allowing them to improve their management decisions.

• Research Organization: Agric. Engr. Dept. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
• OSTI ID: 5126874
• Report Number(s): CONF-8306126-
• Journal Information: ASAE Tech. Pap.; (United States), Vol. 83-3022; Conference: American Society of Agricultural Engineers summer meeting, Bozeman, MT, USA, 26 Jun 1983
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
SORGHUM
GROWTH
ACCURACY
CALIBRATION
CROPS
DYNAMICS
ECONOMICS
FORECASTING
HARVESTING
LINEAR PROGRAMMING
PHYSIOLOGY
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SIMULATION
YIELDS
CEREALS
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
MECHANICS
PLANTS
PROGRAMMING
140504* - Solar Energy Conversion- Biomass Production & Conversion- (-1989)