Simulation of shoot and fruit growth in apple

Modeling approaches which reveal how a plant allocates carbohydrates to the different organs are of major interest since carbohydrate allocation determines many growth processes. In this study, Pallas et al. describe a modeling approach allowing the simulation of carbohydrate allocation and organ growth in apple trees by coupling two models, MappleT and QualiTree.

The coupled model was appropriate to simulate growth characteristics at the tree and organ scales. This modeling approach shows the necessity of accurately simulating the impact of distances between sources and sinks as well as shoot ontogenetic characteristics, in order to represent the observed growth variability within tree architecture.