APEX model applications for the mediterranean cropping systems simulation

Abstract

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender model (APEX) extends the EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate model) capabilities for applications at the microcatchment scale. The research described aims to calibrate APEX to simulate industrial-cereal cropping systems in order to identify management strategies capable of reducing the environmental impact in relation to hypothetical scenarios of climate change and to develop mitigation strategies that allow for direct agricultural activities towards sustainable production. Good correlations between observed and simulated values were obtained for crop productivity as shown by the low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) obtained. APEX provided valuable results on the runoff quantification, in particular for the higher levels. In the analyzed context APEX can be a useful tool for environmental planning and implementation of sustainable cropping systems