Project

Prediction of light interception in tomato

The objective of this project is to develop a functional structural model of tomato, simulating light distribution and photosynthesis in a row crop for diffuse and direct light.

For the development of the structural part of the model the L-system platform will be used. L-systems describe the different plant organs as a set of polygons. Radiation transfer in the canopy will be simulated by the nested radiosity (NR) model (M. Chelle et al., INRA Thiverval-Grignon, Fr.), coupled to the structural model. NR can calculate light absorption and photosynthesis for each polygon in the model giving a detailed overview of the light distribution in the canopy. The effect of different canopy structures and leaf angles on light distribution will be investigated with the use of the model.

This project started in 2007 and is currently running.