Crop Ecological Requirements Database (ECOCROP)

ECOCROP is a software tool that identifies 2568 plant species for given environments and uses (food, fodder, energy, erosion control, industrial purposes). It also contains a library of crop environmental requirements. ECOCROP was designed with relatively basic crop environmental requirements information. This design was chosen because the primary object of the project was to include many species and also include species less well known for which it was not possible to obtain detailed information. The drawback of this inclusive approach was that for many species the requirements are rather sketchy, based on limited available literature. ECOCROP allows to search plants that meet user-selectable descriptors for particular plants, their environments and uses. The user-selectable plant descriptors include category (e.g. cereals, vegetables etc.), life form (e.g. shrub, tree etc.), growth habit (e.g. erect, climber etc.), and life span (e.g. annual, perennial etc.) . The environmental descriptors include minimum and maximum values for temperature, annual precipitation, soil pH, light intensity (degree of shading or cloudiness), Köppen climatic zone, photoperiod sensitivity, latitude, altitude, and other soil characteristics (depth, texture, fertility, salinity, drainage). Use descriptors include the plant’s main use (e.g. food and beverage, fuel etc.) and used part (e.g. entire plant, fruits etc.). ECOCROP provides for individual plants data sheets with brief descriptions of the plant, common names and yields, as well as the ecological and use requirements entered in the database.