ABSTRACT
GOSSYM is a process oriented simulator of cotton growth and yield. The simulation model employs experimentally determined equations describing the plants' physiology and utilizes environmental and agronomic inputs as the driving and controlling factors. The results predict plant growth and fruiting on a daily basis and final yield. The simulation furnishes entomologists with the numbers of available fruit, leaf area, tissue nitrogen availability and a plant response to insect damage. Plant response to damage is generally described as "compensation" and GOSSYM is a valuable tool to determine the delayed plant maturity associated with compensation for early season insect damage. Appropriate models concerned with the insects and their damage interfaced with GOSSYM offer an opportunity to better predict future insect populations and damage and plant recovery from insect damage. Leaf area estimates by the model will assisting characterizing the dilution of pesticides by growth of plants and the searching universe of beneficial arthropods.
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