Analyzing the impacts of climate change on ecosystem services provided by apple orchards in Southeast France using a process-based model.

We know that fruit production, especially in the Mediterranean, will need to adapt to climate change to ensure the sustainability of fruit tree-based agroecosystems. However, there is a lack of evidence on the long-term effects of this change on sustainability indicators. To fill this gap, we used a fruit tree model, QualiTree, to analyze the impacts ofclimate change on the ecosystem services provided by apple orchards in south-eastern France.

Model-assisted comparison of sugar accumulation patterns in ten fleshy fruits highlights differences between herbaceous and woody species.

Background And Aims: Sugar concentration is a key determinant of fruit quality. Soluble sugars and starch concentrations in fruits vary greatly from one species to another. The aim of this study was to investigate similarities and differences in sugar accumulation strategies across ten contrasting fruit species using a modelling approach.

Organ-wide and ploidy-dependent regulation both contribute to cell-size determination: evidence from a computational model of tomato fruit.

The development of a new organ is the result of coordinated events of cell division and expansion, in strong interaction with each other. This study presents a dynamic model of tomato fruit development that includes cell division, endoreduplication, and expansion processes. The model is used to investigate the potential interactions among these developmental processes within the context of the neo-cellular theory.

Coupling epidemiological and tree growth models to control fungal diseases spread in fruit orchards.

Agronomic practices can alter plant susceptibility to diseases and represent a promising alternative to the use of pesticides. Yet, they also alter crop quality and quantity so that the evaluation of their efficacy is not straightforward. Here we couple a compartmental epidemiological model for brown rot diffusion in fruit orchards with a fruit-tree growth model explicitly considering the role of agronomic practices over fruit quality.

Disentangling the Effects of Water Stress on Carbon Acquisition, Vegetative Growth, and Fruit Quality of Peach Trees by Means of the QualiTree Model.

Climate change projections predict warmer and drier conditions. In general, moderate to severe water stress reduce plant vegetative growth and leaf photosynthesis. However, vegetative and reproductive growths show different sensitivities to water deficit.

Optimization of Allelic Combinations Controlling Parameters of a Peach Quality Model.

Process-based models are effective tools to predict the phenotype of an individual in different growing conditions. Combined with a quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping approach, it is then possible to predict the behavior of individuals with any combinations of alleles. However the number of simulations to explore the realm of possibilities may become infinite.

Model-Assisted Estimation of the Genetic Variability in Physiological Parameters Related to Tomato Fruit Growth under Contrasted Water Conditions.

Drought stress is a major abiotic stress threatening plant and crop productivity. In case of fleshy fruits, understanding mechanisms governing water and carbon accumulations and identifying genes, QTLs and phenotypes, that will enable trade-offs between fruit growth and quality under Water Deficit (WD) condition is a crucial challenge for breeders and growers. In the present work, 117 recombinant inbred lines of a population of were phenotyped under control and WD conditions.

Simulation of carbon allocation and organ growth variability in apple tree by connecting architectural and source-sink models.

Background And Aims: Plant growth depends on carbon availability and allocation among organs. QualiTree has been designed to simulate carbon allocation and partitioning in the peach tree (Prunus persica), whereas MappleT is dedicated to the simulation of apple tree (Malus × domestica) architecture. The objective of this study was to couple both models and adapt QualiTree to apple trees to simulate organ growth traits and their within-tree variability.