Abstract
Plant performance is significantly influenced by prevailing light and temperature conditions during plant growth and development. For plants exposed to natural fluctuations in abiotic environmental conditions it is however laborious and cumbersome to experimentally assign any contribution of individual environmental factors to plant responses. This study aimed at analyzing the interplay between light, temperature and internode growth based on model approaches. We extended the light-sensitive virtual plant model L-Cucumber by implementing a common Arrhenius function for appearance rates, growth rates, and growth durations. For two greenhouse experiments, the temperature-sensitive model approach resulted in a precise prediction of cucumber mean internode lengths and number of internodes, as well as in accurately predicted patterns of individual internode lengths along the main stem. In addition, a system's analysis revealed that environmental data averaged over the experimental period were not necessarily related to internode performance. Finally, the need for a species-specific parameterization of the temperature response function and related aspects in modeling temperature effects on plant development and growth is discussed.
Highlights
Accurate prediction of plant performance under changing environmental conditions is a crucial prerequisite for advancements in various frontiers in plant research
Measured internode lengths and corresponding model predictions using MA-T, the temperature-sensitive model approach, and MA-20, the temperature-insensitive approach, for plants grown in Experiments E1 and E2 are shown in Figures 2, 4, respectively
Except for these differences in input temperatures, there were no differences between the two model approaches
Summary
Accurate prediction of plant performance under changing environmental conditions is a crucial prerequisite for advancements in various frontiers in plant research. To this end, an assessment of impacts of possible climate change on plant productivity and food security (Asseng et al, 2013) or a development of adapted crop production systems that may capture the environmental challenges of future growing seasons (e.g., He et al, 2015; O’Leary et al, 2015) are of particular interest. Plant performance is significantly influenced e.g., by light, temperature, vapor pressure deficit, or soil water content. These environmental factors act simultaneously on signal pathways and physiological networks. An important architectural trait for the light distribution in the canopy is the internode length, with longer internodes being e.g., beneficial for whole-plant light distribution and biomass production (e.g., Sarlikioti et al, 2011)
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