A program that allows you to estimate cardinal temperatures and daylength sensitivity parameters and transplanting shock parameter from field observations.

Given sufficient data (phenology and nearby weatherstation), either from multiple locations or from multiple observations at one or more locations, it is possible to estimate phenological parameters from field data. Estimation of these parameters is important to simulate effects of variety choice, sowing date and climate change on the expected days from sowing to flowering and maturity. Use of invalid cardinal temperatures can lead to overestimation of the shortening of this period (and associated yield loss) when temperatures rise due to climate change, see Zhang et al. (2008) and van Oort et al. (2011).

This calibration program is a more general version than the original rice phenology calibration program published by van Oort et al. (2011). The more general calibration program posted here was developed by Pepijn van Oort. This more general version was developed for ongoing rice phenology calibration at AfricaRice and in a small BSc project by Gerdine van Schothorst at Wageningen university, using data collected by Michiel de Vries and Joordens' Zaadhandel B.V.

Important changes relative to the original rice phenology calibration program are:

1. The sinus diurnal temperature model has been replaced with the more accurate sinus-exponential model (SUBDD3.f90). More on this model is found in Parton and Logan (1981), Goudriaan and van Laar (1994) and Ephrath et al. (1996)
2. Photoperiodic Daylength (DAYLP) can now be calculated by defining till how many degrees below horizon there is still light (FUNCTION DAYLP_CAL in Common_opt3.f90). Default setting is 4 degrees below horizon (BASE = -4.). If you like you can change this parameter.
3. It is now possible to simulate both short and long day plants. Activate the appropriate code lines in SUBDD3.f90, search for "!PO20150408: delay in development for long days". (note the original rice phenology calibration program would only simulate short day plants, while we found the two brassica species White mustard (Sinapis alba) and Oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus var. Oleiformis) to be long day plants. Hence this extension to the original calibration program)
4. The model calculates the average daylength from emergence to flowering (DLMEFL) and sends this to output. Plotting observed duration from emergence to flowering (EFLOBS) against DLMEFL (both can be found in "Output_model.txt") provides a quick indication about whether there is daylength sensitivity.
5. The option to simulate with daylength sensitivity only has been added. This option is activated by setting TBD = 99oC.
6. The option to simulate with development rate increasing linearly with temperature without plateau at a given optimal temperature TOD has been added. Activate the bilinear0 model for this option.

Yes I know, it's all a bit nuts and bolts. And yes, you need to do a bit of programming there yourself. No, there is no user interface. You have compile code yourself, which is actually quite easy if you read the manual. You have to open output text files and sort them by lowest RMSE yourself. And yes I know we shouldn't be specifying parameters in the source code (which forces you to recompile every time again). But hey it works! Give me more time and I do a better job. On the positive side: source code gives you full control. If you want, you can dig in the code, find out exactly what it's doing. And if you don't want to know what you're doing, then why are you here?