A Functional-Structural Model of Rice Seedling Coupled with Nitrogen Metabolism

With the ability of representing the association and inner-feedback between plant morphological structure and physiological functions, functional-structural plant modeling （FSPM） approach has been used in many works, trying to better understand the mechanisms of integrating plant functions and its structure, and their communication with environmental factors. To do so, an FSPM of rice seedling was developed in this study, including structural morphogenetic model, photosynthetic model and biomass partitioning module. It can thus describe the developmental course of the rice structure dynamically based on the processes of biomass producing and partitioning. Furthermore, the processes of nitrogen metabolism, which influence the N content and growth dynamics of the virtual rice, were also considered. The model was developed with L-system on a platform established with Java programming language, which took over the parsing and visualization of the L-system strings to 3D objects using Java 3D extended library. The physiological processes in the model can be modified and further improved to gradually meet the needs for modeling the whole life cycle of rice, e.g., considering the respiration, and interaction with other environmental factors like CO2, temperature, etc.. The model was developed to provide a platform to systematically study and understand how plant systems like rice seedling work. The model and the virtualization platform can be expanded to provide decision support on N fertilizer application for the rice seedling and the other crops.

What are the differences in yield formation among two cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) cultivars and their F1 hybrid?

To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differences in yield formation among two parents(P1 and P2) and their F1 hybrid of cucumber, biomass production and whole source–sink dynamics were analyzed using a functional–structural plant model(FSPM) that simulates both the number and size of individual organs. Observations of plant development and organ biomass were recorded throughout the growth periods of the plants. The GreenLab Model was used to analyze the differences in fruit setting, organ expansion, biomass production and biomass allocation. The source–sink parameters were estimated from the experimental measurements. Moreover, a particle swarm optimization algorithm(PSO) was applied to analyze whether the fruit setting is related to the source–sink ratio. The results showed that the internal source–sink ratio increased in the vegetative stage and reached a peak until the first fruit setting. The high yield of hybrid F1 is the compound result of both fruit setting and the internal source–sink ratio. The optimization results also revealed that the incremental changes in fruit weight result from the increases in sink strength and proportion of plant biomass allocation for fruits. The model-aided analysis revealed that heterosis is a result of a delicate compromise between fruit setting and fruit sink strength. The organlevel model may provide a computational approach to define the target of breeding by combination with a genetic model.

FSPM-P： towards a general functional-structural plant model for robust and comprehensive model development

In the last decade, functional-structural plant modelling （FSPM） has become a more widely accepted paradigm in crop and tree production, as 3D models for the most important crops have been proposed. Given the wider portfolio of available models, it is now appropriate to enter the next level in FSPM development, by introducing more efficient methods for model development. This includes the consideration of model reuse （by modularisafion）, combination and comparison, and the enhancement of existing mod- els. To facilitate this process, standards for design and communication need to be defined and established. We present a first step towards an efficient and general, i.e., not speciesspecific FSPM, presently restricted to annual or bi-annual plants, but with the potential for extension and further generalization. Model structure is hierarchical and object-oriented, with plant organs being the base-level objects and plant individual and canopy the higher-level objects. Modules for the majority of physiological processes are incorporated, more than in other platforms that have a similar aim （e.g., photosynthesis, organ formation and growth）. Simulation runs with several general parameter sets adopted from the literature show that the present prototype was able to reproduce a plausible output range for different crops （rapeseed, barley, etc.） in terms of both the dynamics and final values （at harvest time） of model state variables such as assimilate production, organ biomass, leaf area and architecture.

Optimization method to obtain appropriate spacing parameters for crop cultivation

Considering the time-consuming and tedious work of the current methods to control plant layout,which is mostly based on expert experience or field trials,we propose an algorithm to optimize and simulate a planting layout based on a virtual plant model and an optimization algorithm.A functional-structural plant model,which combines the structure and physiological function of plants,is used to construct a planting scene.The planting and row spacing are set as the genetic factors and the chromosomes of the genetic algorithm are encoded with a binary method.The photosynthetic yield of the unit planting area is denoted as the fitness value.By using this method,the intercropping of maize and soybean plants and the sole cropping of rice plants are studied.Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain a high yield planting plan.