Pollination and fruit growth models for studying the management of kiwifruit orchards. II. Models behaviour

Abstract

The behaviour of two models representing pollination and fruit growth in kiwifruit orchards was studied, mainly by means of graphical analyses. Preliminary parameter estimates were proposed using mainly literature data. Simulation results were compared to experimental data found in the literature. The agreement was found satisfactory. Different versions of the pollination model were compared. Sensitivity to parameters and to key inputs were studied, through log-normalized coefficients and by investigating the model response over ranges of interest, respectively. The models were strongly sensitive to most parameters, and the analysis could be useful to plan experiments for parameter estimation. Sensitivity to key inputs was observed and suggested further research.