DSSAT

The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) is a set of computer programs for simulating agricultural crop growth.^[1] It has been used in over 100 countries by agronomists for evaluating farming methods.^[2][3] One application has been assessing the possible impacts on agriculture of climate change and testing adaptation methods.^[4]

DSSAT is built with a modular approach, with different options available to represent such processes as evapotranspiration and soil organic matter accumulation, which facilitates testing different representations of processes important in crop growth.^[5][6][7] The functionality of DSSAT has also been extended through interfaces with other software such as GIS.^[2][8] DSSAT typically requires input parameters related to soil condition, weather, any management practices such as fertilizer use and irrigation, and characteristics of the crop variety being grown.^[9] Many common crops have their characteristics already implemented as DSSAT modules.^[1]

DSSAT grew out of the International Benchmark Sites Network for Agrotechnological Transfer (IBSNAT) in the 1980s, with the first official release in 1989.^[1] Version 4, released in 2003, introduced a more modular structure and added tools for agricultural economic analysis and risk assessment.^[1] Development has continued in affiliation with the International Consortium for Agricultural Systems Applications (ICASA).^[10]