PhD Using crop modelling for yield gap analysis of potato production

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'Yield gap analysis for sustainable potato production' (Potato Gap NL) is a project funded by NWO and Holland Innovative Potato, an initiative of 10 companies active in the potato value chain and prominent global players in the fields of potato breeding and processing. Increases in potato yields in the Netherlands have been relatively small compared to other crops. The yield gap, i.e. the difference between potential and actual yield, is significant, and yields vary largely across fields (even within one farm) and years. In this project, we aim to analyse potential and actual potato yields and yield gaps at field and farm level across the Netherlands. Insight will be integrated in a decision-support system (DSS) that can benchmark potato yields and provide insight in the causes of yield gaps at individual field level while accounting for farm specific conditions. Trade-offs with tuber quality, resource use efficiency and environmental impacts will be included. Three main steps will be followed: 1) improvement of potato growth models to assess yield and quality, 2) field and farm monitoring and analysis of actual yields, quality, resource use efficiency and environmental impacts, 3) development of a DSS. Experiments will be conducted under step 1 for calibration and validation of the model, and under step 2 for analysis of specific agronomic variables influencing yield. We seek a highly motivated PhD candidate who can work on the first step. With the first step, the aim is to use crop models to a) assess potential yields and quality across the Netherlands, b) assess water-limited potential yields across the Netherlands and assess influence of climate variability and climate change, c) assess water- and nutrient limited yields across fields, allowing to assess impacts of current and possible future nutrient legislation and management, d) assess the influence of soil-borne pests and diseases on yields, focussing on rotation effects. The improvement of crop models will indicate the scope for increase of actual yields, and the models and the related experiments will increase knowledge on processes underlying crop growth, including root growth, photosynthetic activity, crop senescence and tuber initiation and development. Modelling skills and experience with field experiments are essential.

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