Field Crops Research 144 (2013) 100–112 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Field Crops Research jou rnal h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fcr Predicting growth and yield of winter rapeseed in a Mediterranean environment: Model adaptation at a field scale Paola A. Deligios a,∗ , Roberta Farci a , Leonardo Sulas b , Gerrit Hoogenboom c , Luigi Ledda a a Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria, Facoltà di Agraria, Università di Sassari, Via De Nicola, 07100 Sassari, Italy b Istituto per il Sistema Produzione Animale in Ambiente Mediterraneo, CNR, Traversa La Crucca 3, località Baldinca, 07100 Sassari, Italy c AgWeatherNet, Washington State University, Prosser, WA 99350, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 22 November 2011 Received in revised form 6 July 2012 Accepted 23 January 2013 Keywords: DSSAT Simulation modelling Genetic coefficients Mediterranean environment Brassica napus var. oleifera a b s t r a c t The DSSAT Cropping System Model (CSM-CROPGRO) was used to adapt a new model for rapeseed (Bras- sica napus L. var. oleifera D.C.) and to evaluate it at a field scale under Mediterranean conditions. Model coefficients used to describe growth and development of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] were chosen as initial reference values. Information on rapeseed from the literature was then used to replace the parame- ters of the model. Phenology, growth, and partitioning were evaluated using experimental data from two locations of Sardinia (Italy) that were collected in 2007 and 2008. The simulated crop cycle (flowering, first pod, first seed and maturity date), leaf area index (LAI), specific leaf area (SLA), aboveground biomass and pod mass production, yield components, and grain yield and composition (oil and nitrogen content) of rapeseed were compared with specific observations for the early maturity cultivar Kabel, chosen among the most promising under Mediterranean conditions. Base temperatures for processes of this species are typically between 0 and 5 ◦ C for photosynthetic, vegetative, and reproductive processes while corre- sponding optimum temperatures vary from 21 to 25 ◦ C. Crop cycle was simulated with a RMSE of 0.8 days (d-index = 0.96). Mean predicted aboveground biomass at final harvest was 3825 kg ha -1 , with a RMSE of 1582 kg ha -1 (d-index = 0.92). The model estimated SLA with a RMSE of 42.3 cm 2 g -1 (d-index = 0.78). Predicted grain yield of rapeseed was 2791 kg ha -1 and was in agreement with the observed data. The results obtained from this model adaptation for rapeseed revealed satisfactory predictions of phenology, growth, and yield of rapeseed and hence suggested that the CSM-CROPGRO model can be used for simu- lation of rapeseed production in Mediterranean environments although further evaluation for water and nitrogen limiting environments is needed. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Rapeseed is a widespread oilseed crop and its growth is affected by complex environmental factors in which the genetically con- trolled characteristics of the cultivar, weather conditions, soil water regime and incidence of insect pests and diseases play an important role (Berry and Spink, 2006). Concerns over climate change, induced by increasing CO 2 concentration from burning fossil fuel, are rais- ing awareness on the need for the use of renewable energy. The EU biofuels directive (Commission of the European Communities, 2009) promotes the use of biofuels in order to help Europe meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction commitments, improve its energy security by reducing its dependence on oil imports and make greater use of local resources. In this context, growing rape- seed (Brassica napus L. var. oleifera D.C.) as oilseed crop for energy production has gained new interest in northern Mediterranean ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 079 229223; fax: +39 079 229222. E-mail address: pdeli@uniss.it (P.A. Deligios). countries. In addition, agriculture for biomass energy could poten- tially move into areas such as abandoned arable land, which is dramatically increasing in EU Mediterranean countries, so that there is no competing use with agriculture for food and feed pro- duction (Roggero et al., 2010; Field et al., 2008; Fritsche et al., 2010). The introduction of energy crops such as rapeseed in this context may provide alternative sources of employment in rural areas and promote the use of surplus and marginal lands. In the long term, the successful implementation of energy cropping systems should seek to ensure income generation, environmental sustainability, energy security, flexibility, and replicability (Zegada-Lizarazu et al., 2010). Furthermore, the low prices of cereal grains and the necessity for increasing biodiversity and maintaining the sustainability of cereal production systems have increased the interest in crop rotations and use of alternative winter oil crops (Koutroubas et al., 2004). Simulation modeling can be a powerful tool to analyze the impact of the introduction of new crops into existing cropping systems, providing that this approach is combined with field exper- iments (Tsuji et al., 1998; Danuso and Donatelli, 2002; Kelly et al., 2008; Zamora et al., 2009; Lenz-Wiedemann et al., 2010). Cropping 0378-4290/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2013.01.017