The simulation of the vine biomass at different planting ages in Ningxia vineyards using DNDC model

The vine total biomass of different planting ages from plants in vineyard (1-12 years) was investigated by analysing biomass in stands with various ages and also simulated using the denitrification-decomposition (DNDC) model in the east Helan Mountains, Ningxia in 2011. The results indicated that the DNDC model accurately simulated the total biomass at different planting ages in the studied vineyard; the simulated results were approximately 93.6% of the measured results, and the biomass determination coefficient R2 between the model simulation and the in situ observations was 0.948 (p < 0.01), representing a significant correlation. Under the simulation, the vine biomass accumulation was found to be sensitive to the changes of fertilisation depth, soil organic carbon content, pH and other factors, and would effectively increase by appropriate increase of the fertilisation amount and decrease of the irrigation amount at the same time. Therefore, the DNDC model is applicable for simulating biomass in Ningxia vineyards and it has the potential to be widely applied to assess crop biomass variations under different climate conditions or management methods.