Evaluating the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) wheat module for California

Context: Computer-based crop simulation models are important tools for agricultural research and management. The Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) is commonly used around the world, but has not been widely validated in North America.
Aims: The objective of this work was to evaluate the reliability of APSIM for simulating wheat production in California, and to identify future research needs, by using pre-existing data from state-wide variety trials.
Methods: Environmental and management data from three seasons of state-wide wheat variety trials, were used to parameterize the APSIM-Wheat module (version 7.10 r4220). Simulated yield and protein data were compared to and actual field data to test the reliability of the APSIM simulations.
Key results: The most reliable simulation of grain yield had a root mean square error of 1040 kg/ha and normalised root mean square error of 16 % relative to actual field data.
Conclusions: The accuracy of the simulations was comparable to o..., , , # Evaluating the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) wheat module for California

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwj0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwj0)

Combined.Field.APSIM.data.csv

This dataset includes the combined yield and grain protein data from state-wide variety trials of wheat conducted by the University of California (UC) Small Grains Program seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19 and summary statistics comparing APSIM model predictions of the field trials with field data.

## Description of the data and file structure

Three files are included in this dataset:

Combined.data.with.predictors.Jan.27.2023.csv

These comprised twelve field locations in the main cereal production regions of California, conducted over three winter seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19. A total of thirty-four environments (location-by-management-by-year combinations) were sampled. The field locations fall between latitudes 33o to 42o N, a north-south distance of approximately 800 kilo...