A computational model of the cereal leaves hydraulics

Abstract

Environmental factors and plant architectonics significantly determine its water regime, namely, the water content and its movement through the tissues forced by the difference in water potentials, turgor pressure in cells, etc. In turn, the cumulative water regime affects the functioning and growth of cells, photosynthesis, and, as a result, the plant’s growth. The leaf contributes to the formation of the water regime and characterizes the contour of the plant’s adaptive system. Nevertheless, the data on the contribution of leaves to the total resistance to water transport in the plant and the structure of the hydraulic resistance of the leaf itself is still contradictory. This paper presents the formulation and justification of the monocots leaf hydraulics model based on Darcy’s law. The model was tested in computational experiments in the Comsol 4.3b package on idealized geometric models of leaf blades. Simulations showed the dependence of water potential distribution in xylem vessels and leaf mesophyll on the permeability of these tissues and on microclimatic parameters around the leaf. The adequacy of the model parameters selected as a result of testing is discussed.