REVIEW PAPER Simulation of Phenology and Yield Attributing Characters of Legume Crops Using DSSAT and InfoCrop Model B. M. MOTE, M. J. VASANI, H. K. AHIR, S. B. YADAV AND VYAS PANDEY Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Anand Agricultural University, Anand email: amarmote4141@gmail.com Advances in Life Sciences 5(13), Print : ISSN 2278-3849, 5265-5271, 2016 ABSTRACT The present paper describes the review of research work done on simulation of phenology and yield attributing characters of legume crops through DSSAT and InfoCrop model. Crop simulation models are state of the art technology that allows a user to estimate crop growth and yield as a function of weather conditions and management scenarios. Crop simulation model accurately simulates crop growth development and yield for various legume crops at different location. Sometimes model simulations were under/overestimated yield and yield attributing parameters, but the trend follows good association between actual and simulated responses. Key words DSSAT model, InfoCrop model, Phenology, legume crops. The legume crops continue to occupy an important place in human nutrition as sources of protein, vitamins and minerals. The major constraint in legume crops is their lower productivity. To obtain higher yield the timely application of irrigation and other farm management operations are essential. Model is a set of equations which represent the behaviour of a system. Crop Simulation model is a computer model used to simulate reality it can be used to simulate crop growth, development and yield of crop as a function of weather condition and management practices. Before using any model, it needs proper calibration and validation. Once model is properly validated, it can be used for various application viz., predicting growth, development and yield of crops, to study response of various climatic parameters and management practices on crops. The crop growth simulation model has been defined as a simplified representation of the physical, chemical and physiological mechanisms underlying plant and crop growth processes. If the basic plant processes production and distribution of dry matter, and water relation were properly understood, and model gives the entire response of the plant to environmental conditions could be simulated. Crop simulation models are able to provide an answer for “if then” type of question. Various crop simulation models are used now a day’s like DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer), WOFOST (World Food Study), WTGROWS, INFOCROP etc. These can also be used in decision making for farm operation viz., application of irrigation, fertilizers, etc. The use of models is very common in other disciplines, including the airplane industry, automobile industry, civil engineering chemical engineering etc. but use of models in agriculture and environmental sciences is not very common. What is crop model? Crop model may be defined as a functional relationship between dependent observable plant response such as growth, weight change, photosynthetic change etc. and the pertinent variable influencing the plant. According to (Monteith, 1996) also defined the crop model as a quantitative scheme to predict the growth, development and yield of a crop, given a set of genetic coefficients and relevant environmental variables. What is crop simulation model? The crop simulation models are mathematical representations of real world system (Mize and Cox 1968). Crop simulation models are the principal tools required to bring agronomic science into information age. It is used to study crop growth and to compute growth in response to environment. A crop simulation model is a simple representation of a crop in relation to environmental and other growth influencing factors and is explanatory in nature. Major characteristics of the simulation models  Use readily available weather, soil and genetic inputs  Be written in a familiar and widely used computer language  Require minimal computational time  Be adoptable for use on both mainframe and micro- computer Crop simulation model groups  DSSAT models  InfoCrop Model