Modeling Plant Responses to Water Supply Based on Functional-Structural Plant Model ‘GreenLab’

Climate change, driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, disrupts weather patterns, affecting food production and security. Concurrently, water scarcity, intensified by climate and human activities, intensifies pressures on agriculture, risking reduced harvests and heightened food insecurity. Efficient irrigation is vital for modern agriculture, yet current systems often waste water. The soil water cycle, involving plant transpiration, is essential for bio-geophysical processes in ecosystems. Crop models and simulations are instrumental in optimizing irrigation strategies by simulating crop growth under different conditions. The GreenLab model is an organ-scale Functional-Structural Plant Model (FSPM) that simulates plant growth using a discrete dynamic system, incorporating both functional and structural aspects of physiological processes. In this study, we introduce water balance equations to simulate soil evaporation and irrigation using differential equations, considering field capacity and wilting points, and combine it with GreenLab. Hence, we can simulate the interactions and feedbacks between the plant functioning and water resources. The model's computational experiments demonstrate the effects of different irrigation conditions on water levels and plant architecture, highlighting the importance of efficient irrigation for plant growth and biomass production. The ‘GreenLab’ model, developed for simulating crop growth, is being enhanced to include irrigation effects, offering a more comprehensive tool for optimizing irrigation strategies and contributing to sustainable agriculture during water scarcity and climate change.