BioEcoAgro Joint Cross-Border Research Unit
Models and decision support tools - INRAE

Models and decision support tools

BioEcoAgro contributes to the development of various models and decision-making tools.

​> STICS

STICS

INRAE contributes to the development of the STICS model.

STICS (Simulateur mulTIdisciplinaire pour les Cultures Standard) is an internationally recognized dynamic, generic and robust crop model for simulating the soil-atmosphere-crop system. Several researchers from the BioEcoAgro unit are members of the Stics Project Team, which coordinates actions to be carried out around the STICS model.

>> Web of the STICS model

> Azofert

Azofert

INRAE's work has led to the development of AzoFert®, a tool for reasoning crop nitrogen fertilization.

AzoFert® is a decision-support software that provides advice on crop nitrogen fertilization at plot level, taking into account recent knowledge of organic matter dynamics and the fate of nitrogen fertilizers.

>> Azofert website

> SYST'N

Syst'N

The SYST'N® tool (designed within the framework of the Azosytem project of the RMT "Fertilisation et Environnement") aims to estimate nitrogen losses, facilitate diagnosis of nitrogen losses in cropping systems, and ultimately improve nitrogen management in agricultural areas.

Syst'N® provides nitrogen losses in various forms (NO3- to water, NH3 and N2O to the atmosphere) for a wide range of crops, over the course of crop succession, according to the technical itineraries used, soils and climates in mainland France.
The organizations contributing to this project are INRAE, ACTA, Arvalis, Terres Inovia, CTIFL, ITB, IE, ITAVI and IFIP. Syst'N is primarily intended for agricultural development agents, agricultural advisors and environmental agencies.
The tool operates at plot level and over the long term of a succession of crops. It comprises a database containing nitrogen loss results from measurements or simulations (the Pertazote database), and a simulator consisting of a dynamic model that simulates nitrogen flows in the soil-plant-atmosphere system.

>> SYST'N website

> R Tools

A simple R script to calculate soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks at equivalent soil mass (ESM)

To calculate the stock of a given element in the soil, it is necessary to know the element concentration and the soil mass per unit area. When stocks are calculated at fixed depth (FD), a change in bulk density leads to a change in the calculated stock, even without any change in the concentrations. This can lead to significant misinterpretation of data, especially when comparing agricultural practices resulting in changes in bulk density in (part of the) the soil profile (e.g. conventional tillage versus no-till). To avoid such misinterpretation, stocks can be calculated at equivalent soil mass (ESM).

The "SimpleESM" R script aims to facilitate calculation of soil organic carbon and nitrogen stocks at ESM using concentration and bulk density data in multiple soil layers.

SimpleESM can be accessed on Github at: https://github.com/fabienferchaud/SimpleESM

Full documentation is available at: https://hal.science/hal-04013158

> AMG and SIMEOS-AMG

Since 1999, BioEcoAgro has contributed to the development of the AMG model, which simulates the evolution of soil organic carbon stocks. This work led to the creation, in collaboration with Agro-Transfert Ressources et Territoires, of the SIMEOS-AMG tool.AMG is a simple model that simulates the evolution of soil organic carbon stock on an annual time step, under the effect of cropping practices. It was created in 1999 and has since been reworked as part of various projects.

This work has led to the development of SIMEOS-AMG, a tool to guide farmers' decisions for better long-term management of soil organic status. Version 1.3 of SIMEOS-AMG, currently available, incorporates the latest version of the AMG model (v2), which has been evaluated under a wide range of agro-pedo-climatic conditions. AMGv2 parameters are available online on the Recherche Data Gouv website.

>> SIMEOS-AMG web site
>> Online tool