APSIM 7.5 release notes

12th April 2013

New soil XML format

The XML format (inside of .apsim and .soils files) has changed between APSIM 7.4 and 7.5. This change was necessary for the migration to ApsimX. All APSIM 7.4 files (.apsim) will be converted to the new format automatically.Note though that an APSIM 7.5 file cannot be opened in earlier versions of APSIM.

This change has also meant that soil crop parameterisations are now part of the Water node under the soil node. Previously they were separates nodes under Water.

Runoff from irrigation

The irrigation / soil water module can now be told to calculate runoff from irrigation applications. To turn this on, a new parameter can be set to true when applying irrigation.

Old Manager

irrigation apply amount = 31 (mm), will_runoff = 1

New Manager

IrrigationApplicationType data = new IrrigationApplicationType();
data.Amount = 31;
data.will_runoff = true;
Irrigation.Apply(data);

Sub-surface trickle irrigation

Sub-surface trickle irrigation can now be specified via the apply command for the irrigation module.

Old Manager

irrigation apply amount = 31 (mm), depth = 100 (mm)

New Manager

IrrigationApplicationType data = new IrrigationApplicationType();
data.Amount = 31;
data.Depth = 100;
Irrigation.Apply(data);

N2O from nitrification and denitrification

Two new output variables “n2o_atm_nitrification” and “n2o_atm_denitrification” have been added to SoilN and SoilNitrogen. These report the amount of n2o from nitirification and denitrification.

New Manager2 module now runs on Condor clusters

There was a bug in APSIM 7.4 that stopped the Manager2 component from running on condor execute machines due to them not having write access to the TEMP folder. A workaround has been implemented in APSIM 7.5.

SoilTemp module now under the Soil node

The SoilTemp and SoilTemp2 modules are now under the Soil node rather than the paddock node. This allows them to use the soil thickness and ParticleSizeClay values. APSIM will automatically move these modules to the soil node when converting a .apsim file from APSIM 7.4 to 7.5.

APSIM.exe can now run a .apsim file from command line

APSIM.exe can now be passed a .apsim, .con or .sim file on the command line. To specify a specific simulation in a .apsim or .con file, the command line argument Simulation=xxx can be used.

To debug from Visual Studio, execute ApsimModel.exe passing a .apsim file or .sim file as the argument.

APSIM User Inteface can now combine multiple .apsim files

The user interface now has an option under the Open button to combine multiple .apsim files in to a single .apsim file.

The ORYZA module now shows its output variables in the APSIM User Interface

A bug in APSIM 7.4 stopped the ORYZA rice module from showing its output variables to the user in the user interface. This has now been fixed.

The Maize (and CropMod) module treats harvest events differently

The “remove” parameter to the harvest event is no longer ignored. If the remove fraction is non-zero, that fraction of the leaf & stem is removed from the system – reflecting farmer practise to burn or store crop residues. A message will appear in the summary file. NB. Previous APSIM examples using maize and weeds used an incorrect syntax (an extraneous comma after the word ‘harvest’) to harvest the crop which resulted in the entire message going astray, with no summary information appearing in the summary file.

The Cotton module has been ported to C#

The OZCot cotton module has been ported to the C# programming language. While no new science has been incorporated, the new language allows for much easier future development. For more detail, click here.

The Sugar module is now responsive to CO2

The source code and XML file for the Sugar module has been changed to allow CO2 levels to affect the growth of sugarcane.

Biggs, J.S., P.J. Thorburn, S. Crimp, B. Masters, and S.J. Attard. 2012. “Interactions between climate change and sugarcane management systems for improving water quality leaving farms in the Mackay Whitsunday region, Australia.” Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment.

The complete list of defects can be found here