Assessing crop model improvements through comparison of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) simulation models: A case study of West African varieties

Better defining niches for the photoperiod sensitive sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) varieties of West Africa into the local cropping system might help to improve the resilience of food production in the region. In particular, crop models are key tools to assess the growth and development of such varieties against climate and soil variability. In this study, we compared the performance of three process-based crop models (APSIM, DSSAT and Samara) for prediction of diverse sorghum germplasm having widely varying photoperiod sensitivity (PPS) using detailed growth and development observations from field trials conducted in West Africa semi-arid region. Our results confirmed the capability of each selected model to reproduce growth and development for varieties of diverse sensitivities to photoperiod. Simulated phenology and morphology organs during calibration and validation were within the closet range of measured values with the evaluation of model error statistics (RMSE and R2). With the exception of highly sensitive variety (IS15401), APSIM and Samara estimates indicate the lowest value of RMSE (