CH02 - Advances in root architectural modeling during the last decade

Abstract

Root architectural models (RSA) have become important tools in root research and plantphenotyping for studying root traits, processes, and interactions with the environment. Themodels have been used to simulate how various root traits and processes influence waterand nutrient uptake. At a more technical level, they have been used to develop phenotypingtechnology, particularly for testing algorithms for segmenting roots. To compute thesequantitative estimates regarding plant nutrition and root functioning, much developmentoccurred in the last decade increasing the complexity of the models. In this chapter, wedescribe first the application of the models to questions in plant biology, breeding, andagronomy, and second the development of the models. We end with a small outlooksuggesting that models need benchmarking and validation and that new developments arelikely to include better descriptions of root plasticity responses and focus on biologicalinteractions among (soil) organisms, including mycorrhizal fungi