Translating and applying a simulation model to enhance understanding of grassland management

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dc.contributor.authorGiannitsopoulos, Michail L.
dc.contributor.authorBurgess, Paul J.
dc.contributor.authorBell, Matthew J.
dc.contributor.authorRichter, Goetz M.
dc.contributor.authorTopp, Cairistiona F. E.
dc.contributor.authorIngram, Julie
dc.contributor.authorTakahashi, Taro
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-07T12:24:12Z
dc.date.available2022-10-07T12:24:12Z
dc.date.issued2022-09-27
dc.description.abstractEach new generation of grassland managers could benefit from an improved understanding of how modification of nitrogen application and harvest dates in response to different weather and soil conditions will affect grass yields and quality. The purpose of this study was to develop a freely available grass yield simulation model, validated for England and Wales, and to examine its strengths and weaknesses as a teaching tool for improving grass management. The model, called LINGRA-N-Plus, was implemented in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and iteratively evaluated by students and practitioners (farmers, consultants, and researchers) in a series of workshops across the UK over 2 years. The iterative feedback led to the addition of new algorithms, an improved user interface, and the development of a teaching guide. The students and practitioners identified the ease of use and the capacity to understand, visualize and evaluate how decisions, such as variation of cutting intervals, affect grass yields as strengths of the model. We propose that an effective teaching tool must achieve an appropriate balance between being sufficiently detailed to demonstrate the major relationships (e.g., the effect of nitrogen on grass yields) whilst not becoming so complex that the relationships become incomprehensible. We observed that improving the user-interface allowed us to extend the scope of the model without reducing the level of comprehension. The students appeared to be interested in the explanatory nature of the model whilst the practitioners were more interested in the application of a validated model to enhance their decision making.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationGiannitsopoulos ML, Burgess PJ, Bell MJ, et al., (2023) Translating and applying a simulation model to enhance understanding of grassland management. Grass and Forage Science, Volume 78, Issue 1, March 2023, pp. 50-63en_UK
dc.identifier.issn0142-5242
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/gfs.12584
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/18538
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherWileyen_UK
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectAgronomyen_UK
dc.subjectGrassland managementen_UK
dc.subjectLINGRAen_UK
dc.subjectEducationen_UK
dc.subjectDecision supporten_UK
dc.titleTranslating and applying a simulation model to enhance understanding of grassland managementen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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