A model of growth and sugar accumulation of sugar beet for potential production conditions: SUBEMOpo I. Theory and model structure

SUBEMOpo (SUgar BEet MOdel potential production) is a mechanistic simulation model to simulate sugar beet growth and sugar accumulation for potential production conditions. Under those conditions sugar beet growth and sugar accumulation are entirely controlled by the prevailing weather (radiation, temperature) and by the crop characteristics (plant density). The only site characteristic required for modelling the potential production is the latitude. Dry matter and sugar accumulation are calculated from the CO2 assimilation of the crop, taking into account the respiration losses and a teleonomic mechanism for the allocation of the carbohydrates to the di€erent plant organs and to sugar storage. A functional balance, consisting of source and sink terms, is thereby used. The computer code of SUBEMOpo is written in the Fortran 77 standard. The model structure consists of a main program and 11 subprograms which describe processes occurring in sugar beet plants, such as, assimilation, respiration, transpiration, growth, development and ageing or deal with the initialization of state variables and ̄uxes and with the translation of daily weather data into hourly data. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.