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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 35(10)

Integrating simulation of architectural development and source–sink behaviour of peach trees by incorporating Markov chains and physiological organ function submodels into L-PEACH

Gerardo Lopez A B , Romeo R. Favreau A , Colin Smith A , Evelyne Costes C , Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz D and Theodore M. DeJong A E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, 1035 Wickson Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

B Irrigation Technology, Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries, 191 Avda Rovira Roure, Lleida 25198, Spain.

C INRA, UMR 1098, Architecture et Fonctionnement des Espèces Fruitières Team, 2 place Pierre Viala, Montpellier 34060, France.

D Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4 Canada.

E Corresponding author. Email: tmdejong@ucdavis.edu

This paper originates from a presentation at the 5th International Workshop on Functional–Structural Plant Models, Napier, New Zealand, November 2007.

Functional Plant Biology 35(10) 761-771 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP08039
Submitted: 29 February 2008  Accepted: 5 August 2008   Published: 11 November 2008

Abstract

L-PEACH is an L-system-based functional–structural model for simulating architectural growth and carbohydrate partitioning among individual organs in peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) trees. The original model provided a prototype for how tree architecture and carbon economy could be integrated, but did not simulate peach tree architecture realistically. Moreover, evaluation of the functional characteristics of the individual organs and the whole tree remained a largely open issue. In the present study, we incorporated Markovian models into L-PEACH to improve the architecture of the simulated trees. The model was also calibrated to grams of carbohydrate, and tools for systematically displaying quantitative outputs and evaluating the behaviour of the model were developed. The use of the Markovian model concept to model tree architecture in L-PEACH reproduced tree behaviour and responses to management practices visually similar to trees in commercial orchards. The new architectural model along with several improvements in the carbohydrate-partitioning algorithms derived from the model evaluation significantly improved the results related to carbon allocation, such as organ growth, carbohydrate assimilation, reserve dynamics and maintenance respiration. The model results are now consistent within the modelled tree structure and are in general agreement with observations of peach trees growing under field conditions.

Additional keywords: architectural modelling, carbon allocation, carbon-based model, functional–structural plant modelling, peach tree growth simulation.


Acknowledgements

We thank Yann Guédon for comments and corrections on the manuscript and for helpful discussions on Markovian models. This research was supported in part by grants from the California Tree Fruit Agreement and the California Cling Peach Board to T.M. DeJong as well as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant RGPIN 130084-2008 to P. Prusinkiewicz.


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