The use of computers in agriculture has brought several benefits to the farmers. Among these benefits, the use of crop models to simulate plant growth and development, as well as a tool for optimization process and decision support aid, has been an option. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of Ceres-Maize model to simulate maize flowering date and yield at different investment scenarios. Simulation results showed that the difference between simulated and observed yield data were in the 5% and 8% error range, acceptable for the program. The same tendency was observed when comparing flowering dates in all scenarios. The model was very efficient and suitable for all of the simulations performed. Without any doubt CERES-Maize may be used as a tool, by farmers, in the crop planning process.
Simulation; CERES-Maize; decision support; yield; maize; zea mays
