COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF 2 CROP YIELD SIMULATION-MODELS

The SWATRER-SUCROS and CERES-MAIZE models were compared in terms of th eir performance in predicting biomass yield, leaf area index and soil water content during the growing season of 1988 at the Rogers farm (Un iversity of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA), Five statistics often u sed to compare the quality of simulation results were used in the comp arison, The comparison was performed based on the prediction of moistu re content during the growing season in soil layer depths of 0-30 cm, 30-60 cm, 60-90 cm, and 90-120 cm in addition to the prediction of abo ve ground biomass and leaf area index. Within the limits of experiment al error both models predicted the moisture content, leaf area index, and above ground biomass reasonably well, Large deviations in moisture content variation were observed in the early part of the growth perio d where irrigation did not start yet, Based on the statistics the CERE S-MAIZE model predicted soil moisture content better than SWATRER-SUCR OS while the opposite was true for leaf area index and above ground bi omass.