Corn Growth and Phenology Modeling

Abstract

To obtain predictions of the dynamic processes that occur during the crop cycle, agricultural modeling techniques are being adopted. The validation of a model for a given area, in the environmental conditions in which the culture is exposed, is important to assess the adequacy of the dynamic system to reality. The research aimed to evaluate the use of the STELLA software in the characterization of the morphophysiological aspects of the maize crop, cultivated in the Zona da Mata Mineira. The experiment was conducted at the Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, from October 2018 to April 2019. A completely randomized design was used, whose treatments were ten evaluations, with 40 replications, of the area index leaf and net photosynthesis, measured throughout the crop cycle. The phenological simulation was based on the accumulation of temperature. The simulated and observed data were compared using the “t” test and the d index, to verify the equality and agreement between the models. The values modeled by STELLA were statistically equal to the measured values and there was an agreement between the studied techniques. The use of the model developed using the STELLA software is useful for determining the morphophysiological processes that occur during the maize crop cycle, grown in the Zona da Mata Mineira.