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Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 10/23/2000 Publication Date: 11/9/2000 Citation: Kimball, B.A. 2000. Future research needed to fill knowlege gaps: plant growth modeling. Agronomy Abstracts. pp 32. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Plant growth models are becoming ever more sophisticated and their ability to simulate the physiology, growth, yield, and water requirements of agricultural crops is becoming more accurate. Nevertheless, even the most complex models resort to empirical relationships for many key processes. For example, the controls on development rate are poorly understood. Similarly, the partitioning of photosynthate among organs is generally based on empirically derived ratios. Interactions with weeds, insects, and other pets are difficult to predict but can impact crop performance. Soil processes must be modeled well too. Every bag of fertilizer sold in the U.S. lists N, P, and K content; yet, few if any models consider the effects of P and K, and not all consider N. In order to handle crop rotations well, improvements are needed to accurately predict the residual effects of a crop on the succeeding one. Moreover, the recent concern about mitigating global warming has placed increased emphasis on the need to improve the predictions of (1) the production of plant biomass, especially roots, and (2) the management and other factors that control the decay of the residue and the residence time of carbon sequestered in the soil. |
