Linking water stress effects on carbon partitioning by introducing a xylem circuit into L-PEACH.

Background And Aims: Many physiological processes such as photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration can be strongly influenced by the diurnal patterns of within-tree water potential. Despite numerous experiments showing the effect of water potential on fruit-tree development and growth, there are very few models combining carbohydrate allocation with water transport. The aim of this work was to include a xylem circuit into the functional-structural L-PEACH model.

Integrating simulation of architectural development and source-sink behaviour of peach trees by incorporating Markov chains and physiological organ function submodels into L-PEACH.

L-PEACH is an L-system-based functional-structural model for simulating architectural growth and carbohydrate partitioning among individual organs in peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) trees. The original model provided a prototype for how tree architecture and carbon economy could be integrated, but did not simulate peach tree architecture realistically.