Abstract
How to increase crop yield is the most important issue in agricultural production. Many studies have been devoted to optimizing spatial distribution of crops, to improve light interception and increase photosynthetic assimilation. However, finding an optimal solution based on field experiments is almost impossible since the large number of combinations of factors that are related, and the cost in terms of finances and time are prohibitive. A new optimization strategy was proposed in this study, integrating a Functional-Structural Model of rice with a workflow based on a Mixed Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO) algorithm. The 3D modelling platform GroIMP was used to implement the model and optimization workflow. MPSO is a new Particle Swarm Optimization-based algorithm with multistage disturbances, which has improved abilities to get rid of local optima and to explore solution space. Spacing between plants was used as optimization target in the first example. An optimal plant spacing was obtained within the model framework of current environmental settings together with the functional and structural modules. Simulation results indicate that the optimized plant spacing could increase rice yield, and that the optimization results remain stable.
Highlights
Crop yields need to be increased due to the current shortage of food, especially cereals, which serves as staple foods for an incessantly increasing human population
Plant spacing has a great influence on the growth of plants: a very high density can lead to intense competition for nutrients in the soil between neighbouring crops, while excessive spacing is a waste of planting area
Recent research [1] in 3D plant modelling has well demonstrated that the essential elements of growth mechanisms and physiological processes can be integrated in virtual crop plants, which means that the virtual plant model could well be an appropriate placeholder for the real plant when doing optimization research
Summary
Crop yields need to be increased due to the current shortage of food, especially cereals, which serves as staple foods for an incessantly increasing human population. Plant spacing has a great influence on the growth of plants: a very high density can lead to intense competition for nutrients in the soil between neighbouring crops, while excessive spacing is a waste of planting area. An appropriate plant spacing is needed, but it is very expensive in time, financial resources and material power to do research in real life on this question, and the results will in any case always be connected with the specific growing environment at the time of the experiment, thereby rendering generalizations of results difficult. Recent research [1] in 3D plant modelling has well demonstrated that the essential elements of growth mechanisms and physiological processes can be integrated in virtual crop plants, which means that the virtual plant model could well be an appropriate placeholder for the real plant when doing optimization research.
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