Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management

The complexity of fruit trees, growing in fluctuating environments, is exacerbated in the present context of global change, in particular climate warming, which affects yields, sensory quality, health value and environmental footprint of fruit production. Dealing with such complexity to serve several objectives, makes the use of modelling approaches indispensable for integrating knowledge and for predicting important variables or processes over a season or over the life of a tree or orchard.

In this context, the Working Group Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management addresses all modelling developments and applications in fruit tree research and related disciplines, both fundamental and applied. This includes 3D tree reconstruction, functional-structural plant models, process-based predictive models, plant architecture and tree phenology models, pest management models. Models and mathematical developments should help us to improve knowledge integration at multiple plant scales (from gene to plant), to capture orchard system complexities in order to optimize crop management, to account for genetic variation in order to identify innovative trait combinations, to design plant and orchard ideotypes. Research on methodological advancements for model selection, calibration, evaluation, reduction and integration is equally important.

Major issues are to find new solutions to maintain yield and quality under environmental fluctuations, to limit the use of chemicals and to anticipate the effect of soil water restriction or changes in temperatures on plant development and fruit growth and quality, to monitor plant status and stress responses, to better explore the genetic resources.

So, the Working Group Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management intends to promote interactions among disciplines, such as modelling, plant biology and horticulture.