Copyright 2006 Accademia dei Georgofili
In the last years, crop protection from insects and diseases has seen a deep evolution depending on new epidemiological knowledge and new treatment methods (new techniques and pesticides). Besides to that, the complexity of interactions among the four components of the pathosystem (pathogen, crop, climate and management) makes difficult taking the correct decisions for the plant protection. In this context, simulation models and decision support systems (DSS) can play an important role. In the paper, after an introduction devoted to the showing of the practical application of simulation models in the fields of plant protection, the principal aspects of the pathosystem components are examined. The different approaches for the epidemiological models are also briefly illustrated by describing static and dynamical models (phenological models, demographical models, delay models, cohort based models and individual based models). After of that, the SEMoLa modelling and simulation environment is presented with two example models implementing a new approach to the epidemiological simulation that uses the Lagrangian models in order to describe the dispersion in time (instead of space) of pathogenic individuals. Of the two model presented, LobesiaPop simulates the epidemiology of Lobesia botrana in grape and PlasmoSun the development of Plasmopara halstedii in sunflower crop.
