Blast

Blast is a software component for the simulation of the development of rice blast disease. It considers both pathogen dynamics and the interactions between the pathogen and rice. Contrarily to the Diseases component, it is specific for rice blast.
The model implemented derives from the approach from Gunther (1986), and it is extended to be compatible with models based on both gross (e.g., Oryza2000, WOFOST) and net (e.g., CropSyst, STICS, WARM) photosynthesis.

Blast simulates the processes of infection, development of the epidemic, as well as the effect on photosynthesis, respiration, leaf aging.

The component is distributed free of charge for non-commercial purposes with a dedicated software development kit (SDK), and can be used by modellers and developers in their own applications. SDK includes code and algorithms documentations and sample projects illustrating how to use Blast and to link it to other components for, e.g., rice growth and development.

References:

Gunther, H., 1986. Simulation of the epidemiology of Pyricularia oryzae in rice. A first attempt. Department of Theoretical Production Ecology, Agricultural University of Wageningen, Wageningen, The Netherlands.