AOBPreview published online on January 8, 2008
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcm316
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Using Virtual Plants to Analyse the Light-foraging Efficiency of a Low-density Cotton Crop
1 CIRAD – UMR AMAP, TA A-51/PS2, 34398 Montpellier, France
2 CIRAD – PERSYST, Avenue Agropolis, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
3 CIRAD – UPR59, TA A-59/01, 34398 Montpellier, France
* For correspondence. E-mail jean.dauzat{at}cirad.fr
Received: 10 May 2007 Returned for revision: 3 July 2007 Accepted: 21 November 2007
Background and Aims: Cotton shows a marked plasticity vs. density in terms of branch development and geometry, internode elongation and leaf expansion. This paper proposes interpretations for observed plasticity in terms of light quantity and quality.
Methods: 3-D virtual plants were reconstructed from field observations and 3-D digitization and were used to simulate the light regime in cotton stands of different densities.
Key Results: All densities showed the same linear relationship between LAI and the sum of light intercepted by the canopy, from seedling emergence up to flowering. Simulated R : FR ratio profiles can very likely explain (1) the longer first internodes on main stem and branches and (2) the azimuthal re-orientation of branches toward the inter-row.
Conclusions: Simulation tools were used to analyse plant plasticity in terms of light quantity and quality. The methodology applied here at the stand scale will now be continued at the plant scale to further strengthen the above hypotheses.
Key words: Light capture, photomorphogensis, R : FR ratio, cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, plant architecture, virtual plants, phenotypic plasticity, density
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  H. Rey, J. Dauzat, K. Chenu, J.-F. Barczi, G. A. A. Dosio, and J. Lecoeur Using a 3-D Virtual Sunflower to Simulate Light Capture at Organ, Plant and Plot Levels: Contribution of Organ Interception, Impact of Heliotropism and Analysis of Genotypic Differences Ann. Bot., May 1, 2008; 101(8): 1139 - 1151. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Fourcaud, X. Zhang, A. Stokes, H. Lambers, and C. Korner Plant Growth Modelling and Applications: The Increasing Importance of Plant Architecture in Growth Models Ann. Bot., May 1, 2008; 101(8): 1053 - 1063. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|