Kröbel et al. (2011)
found that DNDC (version 9.3) overpredicted the growth of above ground biomass
and nitrogen during the first half of the growing season, when assessed using
experimental data from Swift Current (Saskatchewan) and St-Blaise (Quebec). Kröbel et al. (2011) therefore introduced a
new Canadian Spring Wheat (CSW) submodel to DNDC (DNDC-CSW) which had a
modified plant biomass curve, modified plant biomass fractioning curves and
dynamic plant C/N ratios. Wheat root
growth was also accounted for in DNDC-CSW as simulated soil depth was increased
from 50 to 90cm. The new DNDC-CSW model
was found to better simulate plant biomass, nitrogen content, soil carbon
changes and inter-annual variations in crop growth for a variety of wheat rotations
when tested at Canadian sites. The submodel was added as a stand alone section
to the DNDC source code so that the model is flexible and the source code can
be copied to create other crop-specific modules.