A flowering model in kiwifruit

A biological based phenology model is described for simulation of flowering in kiwifruit The model with temperature as the principal parameter describes the distribution of a population of buds, and then of flowers, at different phenological stages, considering the date and delay of flowering as the result of successive random processes. The model assumes that the development of a flower bud is a stochastic process consisting of accumulated small increments of development time, expressed in degree-hours. This model integrates also quantitative elementary components which estimation allows the simulation of the number of flowers.