Using Sigmoid Growth Models to Simulate Greenhouse Tomato Growth and Development
Resource
NSTC 110-2634-F-005-006
Journal
Horticulturae
Journal Volume
8
Journal Issue
11
Pages
1021
Date Issued
2022-11
Author(s)
Abstract
Mathematical modeling has been used to describe the characteristics of crop growth. Establishing a growth model can help to better understand the responses of crops to their environment and improve the efficiency of agricultural production. This study establishes empirical growth models to predict the growth of greenhouse tomato. In this study, we collected beef tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv. '993 ') growth data over two crop seasons in Taiwan and established growth models by employing the commonly used Gompertz and Logistic curves. Days after transplanting (DAT) and growing degree-days (GDD) were introduced as independent variables and their relationships with five traits, i.e., plant height, leaf area index, stem dry matter, leaves dry matter, and fruits dry matter were determined. The performances of GDD models were slightly better than those of the DAT models. In addition, we inferred five critical points with biological meaning based on the proposed growth models. The critical points estimated by the Logistic model are closer to our expectation than those of the Gompertz model, and they were applicable for the '993 ' tomato in Taiwan. These results can be used to predict tomato growth and adjust the fieldwork schedule to improve the efficiency of the greenhouse production of tomatoes.
Subjects
tomato
Gompertz model
Logistic model
greenhouse
critical points
plant height
leaf area index
dry matter
growing degree-days
days after transplanting
Publisher
MDPI
Type
journal article