Articles
Advancing high-performance apple production systems through digital twin modelling
Article number
1395_17
Pages
125 – 132
Language
English
Abstract
Faced with climate change, land use competition, labour shortages, rising costs, and changing consumer preferences, agricultural producers and supply chain stakeholders must improve crop productivity and deliver quality produce that meets consumer requirements, whilst reducing waste.
In addition, improvements must encapsulate economic, environmental and social sustainability aspects.
To address these needs, The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research in 2021 initiated a series of programmes to develop a digital twin of a narrow-row planar cordon apple orchard.
A digital twin would dynamically couple physical and biological components of apple production and its related supply chain systems with their virtual analogues.
In this paper we describe the progress for one of the programmes, which is generating the physiological knowledge of a new high-yielding apple production system to subsequently develop and parameterise a functional-structural tree and a fruit model from tree to market.
The programme has five research aims: 1) build a functional-structural apple tree model that will integrate our understanding of tree and fruit development in narrow-row planar cordon systems; 2) quantify tree architecture development and subsequently manipulate shoot architecture to optimise tree function and carbohydrate partitioning into fruit yield; 3) investigate energy capture, conversion and distribution within planar cordon apple trees; 4) develop new tools and methods to estimate parameters for modelling root growth and architecture and root function; 5) understand the on-orchard factors (e.g., light, crop load and temperature) that affect fruit growth and resulting firmness at harvest and during storage.
Ultimately, the digital twin will guide interventions to improve productivity and quality, enhance resource and energy use efficiency, and reduce fruit waste throughout the production and supply chain.
In addition, improvements must encapsulate economic, environmental and social sustainability aspects.
To address these needs, The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research in 2021 initiated a series of programmes to develop a digital twin of a narrow-row planar cordon apple orchard.
A digital twin would dynamically couple physical and biological components of apple production and its related supply chain systems with their virtual analogues.
In this paper we describe the progress for one of the programmes, which is generating the physiological knowledge of a new high-yielding apple production system to subsequently develop and parameterise a functional-structural tree and a fruit model from tree to market.
The programme has five research aims: 1) build a functional-structural apple tree model that will integrate our understanding of tree and fruit development in narrow-row planar cordon systems; 2) quantify tree architecture development and subsequently manipulate shoot architecture to optimise tree function and carbohydrate partitioning into fruit yield; 3) investigate energy capture, conversion and distribution within planar cordon apple trees; 4) develop new tools and methods to estimate parameters for modelling root growth and architecture and root function; 5) understand the on-orchard factors (e.g., light, crop load and temperature) that affect fruit growth and resulting firmness at harvest and during storage.
Ultimately, the digital twin will guide interventions to improve productivity and quality, enhance resource and energy use efficiency, and reduce fruit waste throughout the production and supply chain.
Authors
J. Stanley, J. Zhu, F. Rojo, T. Kaneko, K. Breen, A. Friend, E. Teixeira, N. Niemann, J. Mawson
Keywords
digital technologies, functional-structural plant models, supply chains, orchard productivity tree architecture
Groups involved
- Division Temperate Tree Nuts
- Division Vine and Berry Fruits
- Division Temperate Tree Fruits
- Division Precision Horticulture and Engineering
- Division Plant-Environment Interactions in Field Systems
- Division Tropical and Subtropical Fruit and Nuts
- Working Group Precision Management of Orchards and Vineyards
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