BioSTAR
Roland Bauböck (University of Göttingen)
Overview
| Model category | CSM |
|---|---|
| Plant part | Whole_plant |
| Scale | Field, Regional |
| Licence | upon_request |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Programming language | Java |
| Format of model inputs and outputs | NA |
| Species studied | Wheat, Rye, Triticale, Barley, Maize, Sorghum, Sugar-beet, Sunflower |
| Execution environment | Stand-alone application |
Scientific article
Simulating the yields of bioenergy and food crops with the crop modeling software BioSTAR: The carbon-based growth engine and the BioSTAR ET0 methodRoland BauboeckEnvironmental Sciences Europe, 2014 View paper
Model description
The crop model Biomass Simulation Tool for Agricultural Resources (BioSTAR) has been developed to simulate climate and soil-dependent biomass yields for bioenergy crops, but obviously it can also be used to predict yields for food crops like wheat or rye. The model’s software is built in such a way that, depending on the resolution of the input data, large-scale (single plots or farms) or small-scale (larger areas with many input datasets) yield predictions can be generated very easily. Novelties in the BioSTAR crop modeling software are a MS Access® database connection for fast data editing and organization and the possibility to choose between four different growth engines and four ET0 methods. Validation runs for several agricultural crops grown in Lower Saxony have proven the models’ capability to serve as a user-friendly biomass simulation tool for small- and large-scale agricultural planning.
Some case studies
The model is already tested for various crops (summer crops, winter crops, permanent crops) and is in a continuous development process.