Modeling the leaf angle dynamics in rice plant

PLoS One. 2017 Feb 16;12(2):e0171890. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171890. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The leaf angle between stem and sheath (SSA) is an important rice morphological trait. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a dynamic SSA model under different nitrogen (N) rates for selected rice cultivars. The time-course data of SSA were collected in three years, and a dynamic SSA model was developed for different main stem leaf ranks under different N rates for two selected rice cultivars. SSA increased with tiller age. The SSA of the same leaf rank increased with increase in N rate. The maximum SSA increased with leaf rank from the first to the third leaf, then decreased from the third to the final leaf. The relationship between the maximum SSA and leaf rank on main stem could be described with a linear piecewise function. The change of SSA with thermal time (TT) was described by a logistic equation. A variety parameter (the maximum SSA of the 3rd leaf on main stem) and a nitrogen factor were introduced to quantify the effect of cultivar and N rate on SSA. The model was validated against data collected from both pot and field experiments. The relative root mean square error (RRMSE) was 11.56% and 14.05%, respectively. The resulting models could be used for virtual rice plant modeling and plant-type design.

MeSH terms

  • Models, Biological*
  • Oryza / anatomy & histology
  • Oryza / growth & development*
  • Photosynthesis
  • Plant Leaves / anatomy & histology
  • Plant Leaves / growth & development
  • Plant Leaves / physiology
  • Plant Stems / anatomy & histology
  • Plant Stems / growth & development
  • Time Factors

Grants and funding

The work is supported by the National High-Tech R&D Program of China (2013AA100404, 2012AA101306), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31201130, 61471269, 31571566), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (BS2015DX001), Science and Technology Development Project of Weifang (2016GX019), and the Doctoral Foundation of Weifang University of China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.