Simulating maize plasticity in leaf appearance and size using regulation rules

Plants regulate their architecture in response to the growth environment, which challenges us to design models capable of performing well in different conditions. By using self-regulating rules, we reproduced blade and collar emergence time, and organ size distribution along phytomer rank in maize under varying growing conditions. The role of emergence events, e.g. blade tip emergence, collar emergence, in controlling growth phase and elongation duration of different components of one phytomer (blade, sheath and internode) are confirmed.