Crop models and decision support systems for yield forecasting and management of the sugar beet crop

Models for the sugar beet crop have been developed for various purposes: (i) sugar yield forecasting with regard to campaign planning and marketing strategies; (ii) integration of scientific knowledge and hypothesis testing; (iii) decision support, in particular tactical and operational decisions at the farm level. It is difficult to satisfy these three objectives with one model; each aim requires its own model. Available sugar beet models can be divided into descriptive models and explanatory models integrating various processes, The first are mainly used for prediction, the latter for research. For decision support and the management of the sugar beet crop at the farm level a combination of descriptive or explanatory crop models, databases and expert systems may be used. This paper gives a comprehensive review of models used to forecast yield and of mechanistic models and decision support systems. Analysis of the literature revealed that so far no models are available to simulate sugar beet quality.