© 2005 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
A virtual peach fruit model simulating changes in fruit quality during the final stage of fruit growth
Françoise Lescourret (1, 2) and Michel Génard (1)
1. INRA, Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles, Domaine Saint-Paul, site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon cedex 9, France / 2. Corresponding author (lescou@avignon.inra.fr) / Received September 24, 2004; accepted December 11, 2004; published online August 1, 2005
Summary
A virtual fruit model simulating seasonal changes in several peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) fruit quality traits during the final growth stage is presented. The quality traits considered are fruit size,
the proportion of total fruit mass consisting of fruit flesh, dry matter content of the flesh and the concentrations of sucrose,
glucose, fructose and sorbitol in the flesh, which are used to calculate a sweetness index. The virtual peach fruit model
was developed by adapting and integrating three existing process-based models describing fruit dry mass growth, fruit fresh
mass growth and sugar accumulation in the flesh into one complex system. Data sets of peach fruit growth and quality obtained
from one field site over several years were used to estimate parameters and evaluate the virtual peach fruit model. Output
from the model showed good agreement with the field data. Insight into the complex nature of the virtual peach fruit model,
i.e., its ability to show emergent properties, was accomplished by conducting a series of theoretical experiments. The virtual
peach fruit model was shown to be sensitive to management and environmental factors (leaf:fruit ratio, stem water potential
and, to a lesser extent, weather). Its ability to generate simple laws relating to physiological variables and quality parameters
was also demonstrated. Finally, the virtual peach fruit model was able to reveal complex behaviors resulting from changes
in water potentials or leaf:fruit ratios over time.
Keywords:
fructose, glucose, mass, sorbitol, sucrose, sugar concentration, system, theoretical experiment.
