Potato is the fourth major staple food in the world and is still rapidly
gaining importance, especially in the tropics. In May, 1994 the second
international potato modelling conference was held in Wageningen, the
Netherlands, as a summerschool of the C. T. de Wit Graduate School. The
conference was sponsored by DLO, SCRI, SSCR, W AU and the LEB-Fund. Over
80 scientists participated, coming from 16 countries. Of each crop
physiological and modelling subject, a leading scientist was requested
to write a review of the most recent developments in his or her field.
The reviews, with highlights from the authors' own work, are such that
the physiological work described is of interest to the modeller and the
modelling work to the crop physiologist. Applications of the
quantitative approach are also reviewed in the concluding chapters that
deal with decision support systems, breeding and agro-ecological zoning.
An outstanding point of this book is that both the crop ecology and the
modelling of a broad range of biotic and abiotic factors are treated by
scientists representing groups which are specialized in the subject. The
two related disciplines met during the conference and thus wrote the
chapters with each other's interest in mind. The book highlights the
limitations for potato growth and development from the viewpoints of
both the crop physiologist and the crop-systems analyst.