Evaluation of a turbid medium model to simulate light interception by walnut trees (hybrid NG38×RA and Juglans regia) and sorghum canopies (Sorghum bicolor) at three spatial scales

Abstract

Light is one of the most important components to be included in functional–structural plant models that simulate the biophysical processes, such as photosynthesis, evapotranspiration and photomorphogenesis, involved in plant growth and development. In general, in these models, light is treated using a turbid medium approach in which radiation attenuation is described by the Beer–Lambert law. In the present study, we assessed the hypothesis of leaf random dispersion in the Beer–Lambert law at the whole-canopy, horizontal-layer and local scales. We compared two calculation methods of radiation attenuation: a 3D turbid medium model using the Beer–Lambert law and the other based on a projective method. The two models were compared by applying the calculations to two walnut trees and two sorghum canopies, which have contrasting structural characteristics. The structures of these canopies were measured in 3D to take into account the arrangement and orientation features of the plant elements. The assumptions made by the Beer–Lambert law allowed adequate simulation of light interception in a structure with little overlapping at the horizontal-layer and whole-canopy scales. At the local scale, discrepancies between the turbid medium model and the model based on a virtual plant were reduced with an adequate choice of structural parameters, such as the leaf inclination distribution function.