SIMULATION OF INDIVIDUAL ORGAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ON A TOMATO PLANT: A MODEL AND A USER-FRIENDLY INTERFACE

摘要

In order to enable the simulation of individual organ growth and development, a tomato crop model (TOMGRO) was modified. Assimilate partitioning was based on sink strength and experiments were carried out to assess the relation between fruit positionand sink strength. Sink strength increased with truss number and was higher for proximal than for distal fruits. These features were introduced in the model and permitted a fairly good simulation of the number and weight of fruits per truss in validationexperiments. A user-friendly interface was developed on the new version of TOMGRO. It enables the user to set crop parameters and initial conditions before simulation starts and to modify climate and source or sink number during simulation. Interactivity and graphics appear to be very helpful for model development and communication.