Brunetti et al. (2025) A Unified Physically Based Model to Simulate Water and Carbohydrates Allocation Along the Soil‐Fruit Axis

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-01
• Authors: Giuseppe Brunetti, Hui Yang, Jiřı́ Šimůnek, Manoj K. Shukla
• DOI: 10.1029/2024wr038189

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study integrates the HYDRUS hydrological model with the SUGAR model to mechanistically link soil processes and fruit development, demonstrating accurate predictions of tomato fruit water and carbohydrate dynamics under varied irrigation, and identifying phloem flux and active carbohydrate uptake as key drivers of fruit growth and sugar accumulation.

Objective

• To enhance mechanistic linkages between soil processes and fruit development by integrating the HYDRUS hydrological model with the SUGAR model, thereby improving predictions of water and carbohydrate distribution within the soil-fruit system under varied irrigation conditions.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Soil-plant-fruit system (specifically tomato crops).
• Temporal Scale: Crop development period, encompassing varied irrigation conditions.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: HYDRUS hydrological model, SUGAR model.
• Data sources: Experimental data on tomato crops under varied irrigation conditions.

Main Results

• Model predictions closely matched observations across scenarios.
• Relative errors were generally low: 5%–6% for fruit water mass, 2%–18% for dry mass, 10%–11% for soluble sugars, and 7%–8% for starch.
• Simulated fluxes indicated that phloem flux is the main driver of fruit growth.
• Active uptake of carbohydrates was identified as a key mechanism for sugar accumulation in fruits.

Contributions

• First-time integration of the HYDRUS hydrological model with the SUGAR model.
• Enhanced mechanistic linkages between soil processes and fruit development by incorporating a root water uptake approach based on root hydraulic architecture.
• Provides a more comprehensive depiction of soil-plant interactions by calculating stem water potential from soil hydraulic state and atmospheric conditions.
• Advances predictive capabilities for sustainable crop management strategies by offering insights into water and carbohydrate allocation under different watering regimes.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Brunetti2025Unified,
  author = {Brunetti, Giuseppe and Yang, Hui and Šimůnek, Jiřı́ and Shukla, Manoj K.},
  title = {A Unified Physically Based Model to Simulate Water and Carbohydrates Allocation Along the Soil‐Fruit Axis},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2024wr038189},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr038189}
}