A Quantitative Dynamic Simulation of Bremia lactucae Airborne Conidia Concentration above a Lettuce Canopy.

ABSTRACT: Lettuce downy mildew, caused by the oomycete Bremia lactucae Regel, is a major threat to lettuce production worldwide. Lettuce downy mildew is a polycyclic disease driven by airborne spores. A weather-based dynamic simulation model for B. lactucae airborne spores was developed to simulate the aerobiological characteristics of the pathogen. The model was built using the STELLA platform by following the system dynamics methodology. The model was developed using published equations describing disease subprocesses (e.g., sporulation) and assembled knowledge of the interactions among pathogen, host, and weather. The model was evaluated with four years of independent data by comparing model simulations with observations of hourly and daily airborne spore concentrations. The results show an accur

SUBMITTER: Fall ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4783011 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature