Crop environment matrix: a simple device for coarsely assessing the ecophysiological suitability of environments for crop production.
Hackett C.
Author Affiliation: Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, CSIRO, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.
Tropical Agriculture 67 : 159-163
Abstract : It is shown that a simple tabular method used to summarize crop ecophysiological relationships for land evaluation projects can serve as a rapid means of recording site characteristics and coarsely predicting crop performance. The format devised for this purpose, which is called a crop environment matrix (CEM), can also be used on computers and for coarse-scale classification of locations for crop production. An example of a CEM is given for commercial bananas. CEMs for cashew, cassava, coconut, arabica coffee, robusta coffee, karuka (Pandanus sp.), mango, oil palm, pineapple and sweet potato are also available.