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QualiTree, a virtual fruit tree to study the management of fruit quality. II. Parameterisation for peach, analysis of growth-related processes and agronomic scenarios

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Abstract

In this paper, QualiTree, a fruit tree model designed to study the management of fruit quality, and developed and described in a companion paper (Lescourret et al. in Trees Struct Funct, 2010), was combined with a simple light-interception sub-model, and then parameterised and tested on peach in different situations. Simulation outputs displayed fairly good agreement with the observed data concerning mean fruit and vegetative growth. The variability over time of fruit and vegetative growth was well predicted. QualiTree was able to reproduce the observed response of trees to heterogeneous thinning treatments in terms of fruit growth. A sensitivity analysis showed that the average seasonal growth rates of the different organs were sensitive to changes to the values of their respective initial relative growth rates and that stem wood was the tree organ the most affected by a change in the initial relative growth rates of other organs. QualiTree was able to react to simulated scenarios that combined thinning and pest attacks. As expected, thinning intensity and the percentage damage caused by pests significantly affected fruit yield and quality traits at harvest. These simulations showed that QualiTree could be a useful tool to design innovative horticultural practices.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the IRRIQUAL project (EU-FP6-FOOD-CT-2006-023120) for financial support. J.M. Mirás Avalos thanks the Universidade da Coruña for partially funding his research stay in Avignon. G. Egea is grateful to the FPU programme of the Spanish Ministry of Education and the Fundación Ramón Areces (Madrid, Spain) for financially supporting his research. E. Nicolás is also grateful to the SÉNECA (05665/PI/07) and CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010 (MEC CSD2006-0067) projects for providing funds to finance his research stay in Avignon. We thank Vicky Hawken for correcting the English.

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Author notes

  1. Gregorio Egea

    Present address: Department of Soil Science, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, The University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6DW, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UR1115 Plantes et Systèmes de culture Horticoles (PSH), Domaine Saint-Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914, Avignon Cedex 9, France

    José M. Mirás-Avalos, Michel Génard, Gilles Vercambre, Nicolas Moitrier, Pierre Valsesia & Françoise Lescourret

  2. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidade da Coruña, Campus de A Zapateira s/n, A Coruña, Spain

    José M. Mirás-Avalos

  3. Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Plaza del Cronista Isidoro Valverde, Edificio “La Milagrosa”, 30202, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain

    Gregorio Egea & María M. González-Real

  4. Departamento de Riego, Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, P.O. Box 164, 30100, Espinardo, Murcia, Spain

    Emilio Nicolás

  5. Unidad Asociada al CSIC de Horticultura Sostenible en Zonas Áridas (UPCT-CEBAS), Paseo Alfonso XIII, s/n, 30203, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain

    Emilio Nicolás

  6. INRA, UE695 Recherches Intégrées (UERI), Domaine de Gotheron, 26320, Saint-Marcel-les-Valence, France

    Claude Bussi

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  1. José M. Mirás-Avalos
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Correspondence to Françoise Lescourret.

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Communicated by D. Treutter.

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Mirás-Avalos, J.M., Egea, G., Nicolás, E. et al. QualiTree, a virtual fruit tree to study the management of fruit quality. II. Parameterisation for peach, analysis of growth-related processes and agronomic scenarios. Trees 25, 785–799 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-011-0555-9

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