Virtual Plant Tissue Generation Based on Cell Growth Modeling.

Plants and plant organs respond to changes in the environment through metabolic processes such as transpiration, respiration and photosynthesis that involve transport of metabolic compounds in and between tissues and cells. Plants have a wide variety of tissues and cell types, and it is likely that their microstructural geometry affects these processes. As experimental characterisation of transport processes at this scale is not straightforward, mathematical models are often used instead. Since plant tissues are intrinsically multiscale assemblies with different characteristics at each spatial scale, multiscale modeling is required. Appropriate geometrical models of the tissue microstructure are essential to this end. However, experimental characterisation of the microstructural geometry of a plant tissue usually requires expensive 3-D imaging equipment and the procedures are not straightforward. The objective of this project is to develop a virtual plant tissue generator algorithm based on cell growth modeling as an alternative to experimental measurements. The virtual tissues will be validated based on real plant tissues that will be obtained from 3-D imaging. A 3-D multiscale moisture and gas transport model will be developed based on the validated geometries, and the hypothesis is verified in a range of applications related to postharvest storage and handling of fruit.