Temperature is one of the most important factors that determine plant growth, development,
and yield. Accurate summarization of plant temperature response is thus a prerequisite to
successful crop systems modelling and application of such models to management. This
paper reports on a general equation that can be used to simulate the temperature response
of plants. The equation reads as r= R max (T max-TT max-T opt)(TT opt) T opt T max-T opt,
where r is the daily rate of growth (or development) at any temperature, T opt is the optimum …

A general equation is presented that can be used to simulate the response of plant growth to
temperature, using figures for daily growth rate any temperature, optimum and maximum
temperature, and growth rate at optimum temperature. The equation was shown to
successfully simulate the growth and development of maize, wheat, barley, sorghum,
Phaseolus vulgaris and Chenopodium album.