Simulation of interactions between root system growth and soil water movement

Abstract

This paper gives a method to realise the dynamic distribution of soil water and root system growth and development in soil space. The three-dimensional root model was developed based on the functional-structural plant model of GREENLAB and spatial growth rules of root segment individual. The Richards equation with a certain initial and boundary condition was used to describe the processes of the soil water movement. The influence of distribution of soil water contain to biomass partitioning and spatial extending direction was realised using electro-resistance method based values of several key points, while the influence of root system to soil water distribution was simulated by root uptake processes. The interacting processes between root growth and soil water distribution were implemented based on the above models and transfer of time scale using the object-oriented methods. Under the condition that given the scenarios and parameters from greenhouse experiment and literature data, the dynamical processes were implemented and simulated results were described using the visual way.