A modeling approach to determine the contribution of plant hydraulic conductivities on the water uptake dynamics in the soil-plant-atmosphere system

Presentation made for the international conference Plant Modeling and Application 2012 in Shanghai.

We present here a new model, PlaNet-Maize, which encompasses the entire soil-plant-atmosphere continuum with a resolution down to individual plant organ segments. The model simulates the growth and development of an individual maize plant, including water uptake dynamics and regulation. We successfully used the model to simulate the influence of root system size on the water status of individual plant organs. Moreover, the model was used to assess the contribution of different regulatory processes acting on the hydraulic radial conductivities and axial conductances.