The APSIM Mungbean Module

Introduction

The mungbean module was developed by Peter Carberry and Michael Robertson . The module is described in the paper by Robertson et al. (2002). The reader is referred to the science document for the plant module for a comprehensive description of the processes simulated by APSIM-Mungbean. This document outlines some mungbean-specific issues that are not covered by the plant science document.

The mungbean module simulates mungbean (black gram or green gram).

Notable features of APSIM-MUNGBEAN

• The phenology of mungbean cultivars are photoperiod insensitive.

• The module does not simulate grain weathering, although some users have simulated the number of rainfall events during pod-fill (using the manager module) and used this as a surrogate of weathering damage.

• The module does not simulate production from second and further flushes of flowers and pods.

• APSIM-Mungbean is not phosphorus-responsive, this is currently under development.

• Crop growth is not sensitive to waterlogging.

Cultivars and crop classes

There is one crop class.

There are 9 cultivars able to be simulated: King, Berken, Satin, Shantung , Emerald, Green Diamond, Delta, Putland, Celera. Cultivars differ in terms of biomass partitioning to grain and phenology.

Figure 1: Performance of the mungbean module (observed versus simulated grain yield in g/m2) against test datasets reported by Robertson et al. (2002).

Validation

APSIM-Mungbean has received testing across the northern Australian wheatbelt, with factors such as cultivars, sowing date, irrigation, soil type, row spacing varying. Papers describing validation of APSIM-Mungbean are by Robertson et al. (2000) and Robertson et al. (2002). The accompanying figure demonstrates the performance of the module against Australian datasets.

In Which Environments Should This Module Be Used With Confidence?

APSIM-Mungbean can be used with a high degree of confidence in northern Australia.

References

Robertson, M.J., Carberry, P.S., Huth, N.I., Turpin, J.E., Probert, M.E., Poulton, P.L., Bell, M., Wright, G.C., Yeates, S.J., and Brinsmead, R.B. 2002. Simulation of growth and development of diverse legume species in APSIM, Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 53:429-446.

Robertson, M. J.; Carberry, P. S., and Lucy. M. 2000 Evaluation of cropping options using a participatory approach with on-farm monitoring and simulation: a case study of spring-sown mungbeans. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research. 51:1-12.