CROP MODELING IN HORTICULTURE - STATE-OF-THE-ART

For the last two decades, crop modelling has become a major research t ool in horticulture as in other areas of plant production. A reason fo r such a success is the versatility of this technique. Scientists look for conceptual frameworks, and horticulture has offered original case studies on, e.g. photosynthesis or plant architecture. Engineers want procedures to solve practical problems, and horticulture is a field w here yield prediction, policy evaluation or process optimisation can b e very important. Horticulture is characterised by a high diversity of cultivation systems and fruit, vegetable and ornamental species. Till now, few of them have been modelled and efforts have focused on a lim ited number of processes of crop growth and development. The water bal ance of plants, the uptake of minerals, the interaction with pests, di seases and genetics, the interplant variability, and the formation of product quality have been poorly addressed. To face the challenge of d iversity, modellers will certainly have to adopt more generic approach es. For decision making, crop models should be integrated in a model o f the whole system under control and connected to a model of the decis ion system. Even though a lot remains to be done, a major achievement of crop modelling in horticulture has been a significant increase of c ommunication tin terms of concepts and modelling tools) in a field whe re the high diversity of species and cultivation systems can be an obs tacle. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.