Plant science in the age of simulation intelligence

Historically, plant and crop sciences have been quantitative fields that intensively use measurements and modeling. Traditionally, researchers choose between two dominant modeling approaches: mechanistic plant growth models or data-driven, statistical methodologies. At the intersection of both paradigms, a novel approach referred to as "simulation intelligence", has emerged as a powerful tool for comprehending and controlling complex systems, including plants and crops. This work explores the transformative potential for the plant science community of the nine simulation intelligence motifs, from understanding molecular plant processes to optimizing greenhouse control. Many of these concepts, such as surrogate models and agent-based modeling, have gained prominence in plant and crop sciences. In contrast, some motifs, such as open-ended optimization or program synthesis, still need to be explored further. The motifs of simulation intelligence can potentially revolutionize breeding and precision farming towards more sustainable food production.

Phenotypic characterization of drought responses in red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

Introduction

Red clover (Trifolium pratense) is a protein-rich, short-lived perennial forage crop that can achieve high yields, but suffers increasingly from drought in different cultivation areas. Breeding for increased adaptation to drought is becoming essential, but at this stage it is unclear which traits breeders should target to phenotype responses to drought that allow them to identify the most promising red clover genotypes. In this study, we assessed how prolonged periods of drought affected plant growth in field conditions, and which traits could be used to distinguish better adapted plant material.

Methods

A diverse panel of 395 red clover accessions was evaluated during two growing seasons. We simulated 6-to-8-week drought periods during two consecutive summers, using mobile rain-out shelters, while an irrigated control field was established in an adjacent parcel. Plant growth was monitored throughout both growing seasons using multiple flights with a drone equipped with RGB and thermal sensors. At various observation moments throughout both growing seasons, we measured canopy cover (CC) and canopy height (CH). The crop water stress index (CWSI) was determined at two moments, during or shortly after the drought event.

Results

Manual and UAV-derived measurements for CH were well correlated, indicating that UAV-derived measurements can be reliably used in red clover. In both years, CC, CH and CWSI were affected by drought, with measurable growth reductions by the end of the drought periods, and during the recovery phase. We found that the end of the drought treatment and the recovery phase of approximately 20 days after drought were suitable periods to phenotype drought responses and to distinguish among genotypes.

Discussion

Multifactorial analysis of accession responses revealed interactions of the maturity type with drought responses, which suggests the presence of two independent strategies in red clover: 'drought tolerance' and 'drought recovery'. We further found that a large proportion of the accessions able to perform well under well-watered conditions were also the ones that were less affected by drought. The results of this investigation are interpreted in view of the development of breeding for adaptation to drought in red clover.

Predicting yield of individual field-grown rapeseed plants from rosette-stage leaf gene expression

In the plant sciences, results of laboratory studies often do not translate well to the field. To help close this lab-field gap, we developed a strategy for studying the wiring of plant traits directly in the field, based on molecular profiling and phenotyping of individual plants. Here, we use this single-plant omics strategy on winter-type Brassica napus (rapeseed). We investigate to what extent early and late phenotypes of field-grown rapeseed plants can be predicted from their autumnal leaf gene expression, and find that autumnal leaf gene expression not only has substantial predictive power for autumnal leaf phenotypes but also for final yield phenotypes in spring. Many of the top predictor genes are linked to developmental processes known to occur in autumn in winter-type B. napus accessions, such as the juvenile-to-adult and vegetative-to-reproductive phase transitions, indicating that the yield potential of winter-type B. napus is influenced by autumnal development. Our results show that single-plant omics can be used to identify genes and processes influencing crop yield in the field.

Usefulness of cultivar-level calibration of AquaCrop for vegetables depends on the crop and data availability

As a result of climate change, climatic extremes are expected to increase. For high-value crops like vegetables, irrigation is a potentially economically viable adaptation measure in western Europe. To optimally schedule irrigation, decision support systems based on crop models like AquaCrop are increasingly used by farmers. High value vegetable crops like cauliflower or spinach are grown in two distinct growth cycles per year and, additionally, have a high turnover rate of new varieties. To successfully deploy the AquaCrop model in a decision support system, it requires a robust calibration. However, it is not known whether parameters can be conserved over both growth periods, nor whether a cultivar dependent model calibration is always required. Furthermore, when data are collected from farmers' fields, there are constraints in data availability and uncertainty. We collected data from commercial cauliflower and spinach fields in Belgium in 2019, 2020 and 2021 during different growing periods and of different cultivars. With the use of a Bayesian calibration, we confirmed the need for a condition or cultivar specific calibration for cauliflower, while for spinach, splitting the data per cultivar or pooling the data together did not improve uncertainty on the model simulations. However, due to uncertainties arising from field specific soil and weather conditions, or measurement errors from calibration data, real time field specific adjustments are advised to simulations when using AquaCrop as decision support tool. Remotely sensed or in situ ground data may be invaluable information to reduce uncertainty on model simulations.

Response of a Diverse European Soybean Collection to "Short Duration" and "Long Duration" Drought Stress

Drought causes significant damage to a high value crop of soybean. Europe has an increasing demand for soybean and its own production is insufficient. Selection and breeding of cultivars adapted to European growth conditions is therefore urgently needed. These new cultivars must have a shorter growing cycle (specifically for adaptation to North-West Europe), high yield potential under European growing conditions, and sufficient drought resistance. We have evaluated the performance of a diverse collection of 359 soybean accessions under drought stress using rain-out shelters for 2 years. The contrasting weather conditions between years and correspondingly the varying plant responses demonstrated that the consequences of drought for an individual accession can vary strongly depending on the characteristics (e.g., duration and intensity) of the drought period. Short duration drought stress, for a period of four to 7 weeks, caused an average reduction of 11% in maximum canopy height (CH), a reduction of 17% in seed number per plant (SN) and a reduction of 16% in seed weight per plant (SW). Long duration drought stress caused an average reduction of 29% in CH, a reduction of 38% in SN and a reduction of 43% in SW. Drought accelerated plant development and caused an earlier cessation of flowering and pod formation. This seemed to help some accessions to better protect the seed yield, under short duration drought stress. Drought resistance for yield-related traits was associated with the maintenance of growth under long duration drought stress. The collection displayed a broad range of variation for canopy wilting and leaf senescence but a very narrow range of variation for crop water stress index (CWSI; derived from canopy temperature data). To the best of our knowledge this is the first study reporting a detailed investigation of the response to drought within a diverse soybean collection relevant for breeding in Europe.

MIRRA: A Modular and Cost-Effective Microclimate Monitoring System for Real-Time Remote Applications

Monitoring climate change, and its impacts on ecological, agricultural, and other societal systems, is often based on temperature data derived from official weather stations. Yet, these data do not capture most microclimates, influenced by soil, vegetation and topography, operating at spatial scales relevant to the majority of organisms on Earth. Detecting and attributing climate change impacts with confidence and certainty will only be possible by a better quantification of temperature changes in forests, croplands, mountains, shrublands, and other remote habitats. There is an urgent need for a novel, miniature and simple device filling the gap between low-cost devices with manual data download (no instantaneous data) and high-end, expensive weather stations with real-time data access. Here, we develop an integrative real-time monitoring system for microclimate measurements: MIRRA (Microclimate Instrument for Real-time Remote Applications) to tackle this problem. The goal of this platform is the design of a miniature and simple instrument for near instantaneous, long-term and remote measurements of microclimates. To that end, we optimised power consumption and transfer data using a cellular uplink. MIRRA is modular, enabling the use of different sensors (e.g., air and soil temperature, soil moisture and radiation) depending upon the application, and uses an innovative node system highly suitable for remote locations. Data from separate sensor modules are wirelessly sent to a gateway, thus avoiding the drawbacks of cables. With this sensor technology for the long-term, low-cost, real-time and remote sensing of microclimates, we lay the foundation and open a wide range of possibilities to map microclimates in different ecosystems, feeding a next generation of models. MIRRA is, however, not limited to microclimate monitoring thanks to its modular and wireless design. Within limits, it is suitable or any application requiring real-time data logging of power-efficient sensors over long periods of time. We compare the performance of this system to a reference system in real-world conditions in the field, indicating excellent correlation with data collected by established data loggers. This proof-of-concept forms an important foundation to creating the next version of MIRRA, fit for large scale deployment and possible commercialisation. In conclusion, we developed a novel wireless cost-effective sensor system for microclimates.

Leaf elongation response to blue light is mediated by stomatal-induced variations in transpiration in Festuca arundinacea

Reduced blue light irradiance is known to enhance leaf elongation rate (LER) in grasses, but the mechanisms involved have not yet been elucidated. We investigated whether leaf elongation response to reduced blue light could be mediated by stomata-induced variations of plant transpiration. Two experiments were carried out on tall fescue in order to monitor LER and transpiration under reduced blue light irradiance. Additionally, LER dynamics were compared with those observed in the response to vapour pressure deficit (VPD)-induced variations of transpiration. Finally, we developed a model of water flow within a tiller to simulate the observed short-term response of LER to various transpiration regimes. LER dramatically increased in response to blue light reduction and then reached new steady states, which remained higher than the control. Reduced blue light triggered a simultaneous stomatal closure which induced an immediate decrease of leaf transpiration. The hydraulic model of leaf elongation accurately predicted the LER response to blue light and VPD, resulting from an increase in the growth-induced water potential gradient in the leaf growth zone. Our results suggest that the blue light signal is sensed by stomata of expanded leaves and transduced to the leaf growth zone through the hydraulic architecture of the tiller.

Turgor-driven plant growth applied in a soybean functional-structural plant model

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Turgor pressure within a plant cell represents the key to the mechanistical descriptiion of plant growth, combining the effects of both water and carbon availability. The high level of spatio-temporal variation and diurnal dynamics in turgor pressure within a single plant make it a challenge to model these on the fine spatial scale required for functional-structural plant models (FSPMs). A conceptual model for turgor-driven growth in FSPMs has been established previously, but its practical use has not yet been explored.

METHODS

A turgor-driven growth model was incorporated in a newly established FSPM for soybean. The FSPM simulates dynamics in photosynthesis, transpiration and turgor pressure in direct relation to plant growth. Comparisons of simulations with field data were used to evaluate the potential and shortcomings of the modelling approach.

KEY RESULTS

Model simulations revealed the need to include an initial seed carbon contribution, a more realistic sink function, an estimation of respiration, and the distinction between osmotic and structural sugars, in order to achieve a realistic model of plant growth. However, differences between simulations and observations remained in individual organ growth patterns and under different environmental conditions. This exposed the need to further investigate the assumptions of developmental and environmental (in)sensitivity of the parameters, which represent physiological and biophysical organ properties in the model, in future research.

CONCLUSIONS

The model in its current form is primarily a diagnostic tool, to better understand and model the behaviour of water relations on the scale of individual plant organs throughout the plant life cycle. Potential future applications include its use as a phenotyping tool to capture differences in plant performance between genotypes and growing environments in terms of specific plant characteristics. Additionally, focused experiments can be used to further improve the model mechanisms to lead to better predictive FSPMs, including scenarios of water deficit.

Gloxinia-An Open-Source Sensing Platform to Monitor the Dynamic Responses of Plants

The study of the dynamic responses of plants to short-term environmental changes is becoming increasingly important in basic plant science, phenotyping, breeding, crop management, and modelling. These short-term variations are crucial in plant adaptation to new environments and, consequently, in plant fitness and productivity. Scalable, versatile, accurate, and low-cost data-logging solutions are necessary to advance these fields and complement existing sensing platforms such as high-throughput phenotyping. However, current data logging and sensing platforms do not meet the requirements to monitor these responses. Therefore, a new modular data logging platform was designed, named Gloxinia. Different sensor boards are interconnected depending upon the needs, with the potential to scale to hundreds of sensors in a distributed sensor system. To demonstrate the architecture, two sensor boards were designed—one for single-ended measurements and one for lock-in amplifier based measurements, named Sylvatica and Planalta, respectively. To evaluate the performance of the system in small setups, a small-scale trial was conducted in a growth chamber. Expected plant dynamics were successfully captured, indicating proper operation of the system. Though a large scale trial was not performed, we expect the system to scale very well to larger setups. Additionally, the platform is open-source, enabling other users to easily build upon our work and perform application-specific optimisations.

Use of identifiability analysis in designing phenotyping experiments for modelling forage production and quality

Agricultural systems models are complex and tend to be over-parameterized with respect to observational datasets. Practical identifiability analysis based on local sensitivity analysis has proved effective in investigating identifiable parameter sets in environmental models, but has not been applied to agricultural systems models. Here, we demonstrate that identifiability analysis improves experimental design to ensure independent parameter estimation for yield and quality outputs of a complex grassland model. The Pasture Simulation model (PaSim) was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of practical identifiability analysis in designing experiments and measurement protocols within phenotyping experiments with perennial ryegrass. Virtual experiments were designed combining three factors: frequency of measurements, duration of the experiment. and location of trials. Our results demonstrate that (i) PaSim provides sufficient detail in terms of simulating biomass yield and quality of perennial ryegrass for use in breeding, (ii) typical breeding trials are insufficient to parameterize all influential parameters, (iii) the frequency of measurements is more important than the number of growing seasons to improve the identifiability of PaSim parameters, and (iv) identifiability analysis provides a sound approach for optimizing the design of multi-location trials. Practical identifiability analysis can play an important role in ensuring proper exploitation of phenotypic data and cost-effective multi-location experimental designs. Considering the growing importance of simulation models, this study supports the design of experiments and measurement protocols in the phenotyping networks that have recently been organized.

Modelling leaf spectral properties in a soybean functional-structural plant model by integrating the prospect radiative transfer model

Background and Aims

Currently, functional-structural plant models (FSPMs) mostly resort to static descriptions of leaf spectral characteristics, which disregard the influence of leaf physiological changes over time. In many crop species, including soybean, these time-dependent physiological changes are of particular importance as leaf chlorophyll content changes with leaf age and vegetative nitrogen is remobilized to the developing fruit during pod filling.

Methods

PROSPECT, a model developed to estimate leaf biochemical composition from remote sensing data, is well suited to allow a dynamic approximation of leaf spectral characteristics in terms of leaf composition. In this study, measurements of the chlorophyll content index (CCI) were linked to leaf spectral characteristics within the 400-800 nm range by integrating the PROSPECT model into a soybean FSPM alongside a wavelength-specific light model.

Key Results

Straightforward links between the CCI and the parameters of the PROSPECT model allowed us to estimate leaf spectral characteristics with high accuracy using only the CCI as an input. After integration with an FSPM, this allowed digital reconstruction of leaf spectral characteristics on the scale of both individual leaves and the whole canopy. As a result, accurate simulations of light conditions within the canopy were obtained.

Conclusions

The proposed approach resulted in a very accurate representation of leaf spectral properties, based on fast and simple measurements of the CCI. Integration of accurate leaf spectral characteristics into a soybean FSPM leads to a better, dynamic understanding of the actual perceived light within the canopy in terms of both light quantity and quality.

Introducing turgor-driven growth dynamics into functional-structural plant models

Background and Aims

In many scenarios the availability of assimilated carbon is not the constraining factor of plant growth. Rather, organ growth appears driven by sink activity in which water availability plays a determinant role. Current functional-structural plant models (FSPMs) mainly focus on plant-carbon relations and largely disregard the importance of plant water status in organogenesis. Consequently, incorporating a turgor-driven growth concept, coupling carbon and water dynamics in an FSPM, presents a significant improvement towards capturing plant development in a more mechanistic manner.

Methods

An existing process-based water flow and storage model served as a basis for implementing water control in FSPMs. Its concepts were adjusted to the scale of individual plant organs and interwoven with the basic principles of modelling carbon dynamics to allow evaluation of turgor pressure across the entire plant. This was then linked to plant organ growth by applying the principles of the widely used Lockhart equation.

Key results

This model successfully integrates a mechanistic understanding of plant water transport dynamics coupled with simple carbon dynamics within a dynamically developing plant architecture. It allows evaluation of turgor pressure on the scale of plant organs, resulting in clear diel and long-term patterns, directly linked to plant organ growth.

Conclusions

A conceptual sap flow and turgor-driven growth model was introduced for functional-structural plant modelling. It is applicable to any plant architecture and allows visual exploration of the diel patterns of organ water content and growth. Integrated in existing FSPMs, this new concept fosters an array of possibilities for FSPMs, as it presents a different formulation of growth in terms of local processes, influenced by local and external conditions.

Trichoderma-Inoculated Miscanthus Straw Can Replace Peat in Strawberry Cultivation, with Beneficial Effects on Disease Control

Peat based growing media are not ecologically sustainable and often fail to support biological control. Miscanthus straw was (1) tested to partially replace peat; and (2) pre-colonized with a Trichoderma strain to increase the biological control capacity of the growing media. In two strawberry pot trials (denoted as experiment I & II), extruded and non-extruded miscanthus straw, with or without pre-colonization with T. harzianum T22, was used to partially (20% v/v) replace peat. We tested the performance of each mixture by monitoring strawberry plant development, nutrient content in the leaves and growing media, sensitivity of the fruit to the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea, rhizosphere community and strawberry defense responses. N immobilization by miscanthus straw reduced strawberry growth and yield in experiment II but not in I. The pre-colonization of the straw with Trichoderma increased the post-harvest disease suppressiveness against B. cinerea and changed the rhizosphere fungal microbiome in both experiments. In addition, defense-related genes were induced in experiment II. The use of miscanthus straw in growing media will reduce the demand for peat and close resource loops. Successful pre-colonization of this straw with biological control fungi will optimize crop cultivation, requiring fewer pesticide applications, which will benefit the environment and human health.

Key challenges and priorities for modelling European grasslands under climate change

Grassland-based ruminant production systems are integral to sustainable food production in Europe, converting plant materials indigestible to humans into nutritious food, while providing a range of environmental and cultural benefits. Climate change poses significant challenges for such systems, their productivity and the wider benefits they supply. In this context, grassland models have an important role in predicting and understanding the impacts of climate change on grassland systems, and assessing the efficacy of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies. In order to identify the key challenges for European grassland modelling under climate change, modellers and researchers from across Europe were consulted via workshop and questionnaire. Participants identified fifteen challenges and considered the current state of modelling and priorities for future research in relation to each. A review of literature was undertaken to corroborate and enrich the information provided during the horizon scanning activities. Challenges were in four categories relating to: 1) the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the sward 2) climate change effects on grassland systems outputs 3) mediation of climate change impacts by site, system and management and 4) cross-cutting methodological issues. While research priorities differed between challenges, an underlying theme was the need for accessible, shared inventories of models, approaches and data, as a resource for stakeholders and to stimulate new research. Developing grassland models to effectively support efforts to tackle climate change impacts, while increasing productivity and enhancing ecosystem services, will require engagement with stakeholders and policy-makers, as well as modellers and experimental researchers across many disciplines. The challenges and priorities identified are intended to be a resource 1) for grassland modellers and experimental researchers, to stimulate the development of new research directions and collaborative opportunities, and 2) for policy-makers involved in shaping the research agenda for European grassland modelling under climate change.

Stem diameter variations as a versatile research tool in ecophysiology

High-resolution stem diameter variations (SDV) are widely recognized as a useful drought stress indicator and have therefore been used in many irrigation scheduling studies. More recently, SDV have been used in combination with other plant measurements and biophysical modelling to study fundamental mechanisms underlying whole-plant functioning and growth. The present review aims to scrutinize the important insights emerging from these more recent SDV applications to identify trends in ongoing fundamental research. The main mechanism underlying SDV is variation in water content in stem tissues, originating from reversible shrinkage and swelling of dead and living tissues, and irreversible growth. The contribution of different stem tissues to the overall SDV signal is currently under debate and shows variation with species and plant age, but can be investigated by combining SDV with state-of-the-art technology like magnetic resonance imaging. Various physiological mechanisms, such as water and carbon transport, and mechanical properties influence the SDV pattern, making it an extensive source of information on dynamic plant behaviour. To unravel these dynamics and to extract information on plant physiology or plant biophysics from SDV, mechanistic modelling has proved to be valuable. Biophysical models integrate different mechanisms underlying SDV, and help us to explain the resulting SDV signal. Using an elementary modelling approach, we demonstrate the application of SDV as a tool to examine plant water relations, plant hydraulics, plant carbon relations, plant nutrition, freezing effects, plant phenology and dendroclimatology. In the ever-expanding SDV knowledge base we identified two principal research tracks. First, in detailed short-term experiments, SDV measurements are combined with other plant measurements and modelling to discover patterns in phloem turgor, phloem osmotic concentrations, root pressure and plant endogenous control. Second, long-term SDV time series covering many different species, regions and climates provide an expanding amount of phenotypic data of growth, phenology and survival in relation to microclimate, soil water availability, species or genotype, which can be coupled with genetic information to support ecological and breeding research under on-going global change. This under-exploited source of information has now encouraged research groups to set up coordinated initiatives to explore this data pool via global analysis techniques and data-mining.

Stem diameter variations as a versatile research tool in ecophysiology

High-resolution stem diameter variations (SDV) are widely recognized as a useful drought stress indicator and have therefore been used in many irrigation scheduling studies. More recently, SDV have been used in combination with other plant measurements and biophysical modelling to study fundamental mechanisms underlying whole-plant functioning and growth. The present review aims to scrutinize the important insights emerging from these more recent SDV applications to identify trends in ongoing fundamental research. The main mechanism underlying SDV is variation in water content in stem tissues, originating from reversible shrinkage and swelling of dead and living tissues, and irreversible growth. The contribution of different stem tissues to the overall SDV signal is currently under debate and shows variation with species and plant age, but can be investigated by combining SDV with state-of-the-art technology like magnetic resonance imaging. Various physiological mechanisms, such as water and carbon transport, and mechanical properties influence the SDV pattern, making it an extensive source of information on dynamic plant behaviour. To unravel these dynamics and to extract information on plant physiology or plant biophysics from SDV, mechanistic modelling has proved to be valuable. Biophysical models integrate different mechanisms underlying SDV, and help us to explain the resulting SDV signal. Using an elementary modelling approach, we demonstrate the application of SDV as a tool to examine plant water relations, plant hydraulics, plant carbon relations, plant nutrition, freezing effects, plant phenology and dendroclimatology. In the ever-expanding SDV knowledge base we identified two principal research tracks. First, in detailed short-term experiments, SDV measurements are combined with other plant measurements and modelling to discover patterns in phloem turgor, phloem osmotic concentrations, root pressure and plant endogenous control. Second, long-term SDV time series covering many different species, regions and climates provide an expanding amount of phenotypic data of growth, phenology and survival in relation to microclimate, soil water availability, species or genotype, which can be coupled with genetic information to support ecological and breeding research under on-going global change. This under-exploited source of information has now encouraged research groups to set up coordinated initiatives to explore this data pool via global analysis techniques and data-mining.

Modelling reveals endogenous osmotic adaptation of storage tissue water potential as an important driver determining different stem diameter variation patterns in the mangrove species Avicennia marina and Rhizophora stylosa

BACKGROUND

Stem diameter variations are mainly determined by the radial water transport between xylem and storage tissues. This radial transport results from the water potential difference between these tissues, which is influenced by both hydraulic and carbon related processes. Measurements have shown that when subjected to the same environmental conditions, the co-occurring mangrove species Avicennia marina and Rhizophora stylosa unexpectedly show a totally different pattern in daily stem diameter variation.

METHODS

Using in situ measurements of stem diameter variation, stem water potential and sap flow, a mechanistic flow and storage model based on the cohesion-tension theory was applied to assess the differences in osmotic storage water potential between Avicennia marina and Rhizophora stylosa.

KEY RESULTS

Both species, subjected to the same environmental conditions, showed a resembling daily pattern in simulated osmotic storage water potential. However, the osmotic storage water potential of R. stylosa started to decrease slightly after that of A. marina in the morning and increased again slightly later in the evening. This small shift in osmotic storage water potential likely underlaid the marked differences in daily stem diameter variation pattern between the two species.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that in addition to environmental dynamics, endogenous changes in the osmotic storage water potential must be taken into account in order to accurately predict stem diameter variations, and hence growth.

Phloem transport: a review of mechanisms and controls

It is generally believed that an osmotically generated pressure gradient drives the phloem mass flow. So far, this widely accepted Münch theory has required remarkably few adaptations, but the debate on alternative and additional hypotheses is still ongoing. Recently, a possible shortcoming of the Münch theory has been pointed out, suggesting that the Münch pressure flow is more suitable for herbs than for trees. Estimation of the phloem resistance indicates that a point might be reached in long sieve tubes where the pressure required to drive the Münch flow cannot be generated. Therefore, the relay hypothesis regained belief as it implies that the sieve tubes are shorter then the plant's axial axis. In the source phloem, three different loading strategies exist which probably result from evolutionary advantages. Passive diffusion seems to be the most primitive one, whereas active loading strategies substantially increase the growth potential. Along the transport phloem, a leakage-retrieval mechanism is observed. Appreciable amounts of carbohydrates are lost from the sieve tubes to feed the lateral sinks, while a part of these lost carbohydrates is subsequently reloaded into the sieve tubes. This mechanism is probably involved to buffer short-term irregularities in phloem turgor and gradient. In the long term, the mechanism controls the replenishment and remobilization of lateral stem storage tissues. As phloem of higher plants has multiple functions in plant development, reproduction, signalling, and growth, the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms behind phloem transport should be elucidated to increase our ability to influence plant growth and development.

Non-destructive estimation of root pressure using sap flow, stem diameter measurements and mechanistic modelling

BACKGROUND

Upward water movement in plants via the xylem is generally attributed to the cohesion-tension theory, as a response to transpiration. Under certain environmental conditions, root pressure can also contribute to upward xylem water flow. Although the occurrence of root pressure is widely recognized, ambiguity exists about the exact mechanism behind root pressure, the main influencing factors and the consequences of root pressure. In horticultural crops, such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), root pressure is thought to cause cells to burst, and to have an important impact on the marketable yield. Despite the challenges of root pressure research, progress in this area is limited, probably because of difficulties with direct measurement of root pressure, prompting the need for indirect and non-destructive measurement techniques.

METHODS

A new approach to allow non-destructive and non-invasive estimation of root pressure is presented, using continuous measurements of sap flow and stem diameter variation in tomato combined with a mechanistic flow and storage model, based on cohesion-tension principles.

KEY RESULTS

Transpiration-driven sap flow rates are typically inversely related to stem diameter changes; however, this inverse relationship was no longer valid under conditions of low transpiration. This decoupling between sap flow rates and stem diameter variations was mathematically related to root pressure.

CONCLUSIONS

Root pressure can be estimated in a non-destructive, repeatable manner, using only external plant sensors and a mechanistic model.

Understanding the effect of carbon status on stem diameter variations

BACKGROUND

Carbon assimilation and leaf-to-fruit sugar transport are, along with plant water status, the driving mechanisms for fruit growth. An integrated comprehension of the plant water and carbon relationships is therefore essential to better understand water and dry matter accumulation. Variations in stem diameter result from an integrated response to plant water and carbon status and are as such a valuable source of information.

METHODS

A mechanistic water flow and storage model was used to relate variations in stem diameter to phloem sugar loading and sugar concentration dynamics in tomato. The simulation results were compared with an independent model, simulating phloem sucrose loading at the leaf level based on photosynthesis and sugar metabolism kinetics and enabled a mechanistic interpretation of the 'one common assimilate pool' concept for tomato.

KEY RESULTS

Combining stem diameter variation measurements and mechanistic modelling allowed us to distinguish instantaneous dynamics in the plant water relations and gradual variations in plant carbon status. Additionally, the model combined with stem diameter measurements enabled prediction of dynamic variables which are difficult to measure in a continuous and non-destructive way, such as xylem water potential and phloem hydrostatic potential. Finally, dynamics in phloem sugar loading and sugar concentration were distilled from stem diameter variations.

CONCLUSIONS

Stem diameter variations, when used in mechanistic models, have great potential to continuously monitor and interpret plant water and carbon relations under natural growing conditions.

U-HPLC-MS/MS to quantify liposoluble antioxidants in red-ripe tomatoes, grown under different salt stress levels

The growing interest of consumers in healthy food challenges growers to continuously improve the nutritional quality of their crops. In this research, the potential of a more saline growth environment for improved antioxidant concentration in tomato fruit was studied, and an U-HPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of lycopene, β-carotene, and α-tocopherol was optimized. Analytes were thereby separated on a 1.9 μm Hypersil GOLD C(18) column and quantified on a TSQ Vantage triple-quadropole mass spectrometer. The method displayed a short analysis time (6 min), a high specificity, and an excellent repeatability (≤6.39%). Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the electrical conductivity level of the applied nutrient solution did not unambiguously influence antioxidant concentration in tomato fruits. Future research should focus on moderate salt stress only and should aim at reducing natural variation by more closely controlling the growth environment and a more objective determination of the ripening degree.