Mathematical Models of Plant Growth and Development

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the formulation of simulation models that take a maximum of two classes of inputs to describe the behavior of the crop. The models that the authors consider here treat the potato crop, its growth and development and its interactions with its environment and with other organisms. The aims of simulation models of the type being considered here are to simulate and explain crop development and behavior, yield and quality as functions of environmental and management conditions or disease pressure or (possibly) of genetic variation. It provides a description of the operation at one level of organization through the quantification of operations at another lower level. Several different approaches have been taken since the 1960s on how best to tackle the simulation of aspects of the crop. More recently developed kinds of models are able to deal specifically with uncertain values in both the input and the output variables. Examples include rule-based models with flexible querying and causal models based on Bayesian probability theory. Problems inherent in this latter style of model include how to assemble a chain of uncertain processes in a way that avoids unlikely outcomes and how to present answers in a style that is meaningful to others than scientists engaged in the same exercise.