Simulation of tomato production under photovoltaic greenhouses

International audience; The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of shading induced by the photovoltaic panels on crop yields inside the greenhouse. The yield performance has been evaluated by using the tomato plant growth TOMGRO model. This model predicts the number and dry mass of leaves, stem segments and fruits, as well as the increase in leaf area as new organs are initiated, age, and senesce or are picked. The model uses a source-sink approach for partitioning carbohydrate into growth of different organs. TOMGRO was applied to simulate tomato production under two different photovoltaic greenhouse types: Venlo and Asymmetric. In each greenhouse, the plant density varied from low density (1.5 plants m-2) to high density (5 plants m-2). On the basis of these simulations, it has been observed that the decreased crop yields caused by shading may reach 70% under the asymmetric greenhouse with a planting density of 5 plants m-2 and 58% under Venlo greenhouse with a planting density of 1.5 plants m-2.