We are seeking an enthusiastic researcher to work on modelling plant growth and development in a greenhouse setting and applying it to improve processes in agriculture and food production.
Within the framework of a new research project that aims to develop a digital twin of tomato crops in a greenhouse environment (
https://www.wur.nl/en/project/Virtual-tomato-crops-1.htm), the aim of this postdoc position is to design and set-up a 3D simulation model of a greenhouse tomato crop, and use concepts from existing plant and greenhouse models. Ultimately, this should lead to a functional digital twin of a tomato crop. This twin uses a continuous stream of information on greenhouse climate data as well as plant data as input. It provides yield, resource use (e.g. energy, water), and economic profit as output, which is used to control the greenhouse environment of the real crop as well as support decisions on crop management. Within the project, the postdoc will play a central role, as s/he is in constant contact with other project members on both the input data coming from the real plants, as well as the output to be used for crop management decisions.
The research challengeSo-called
functional-structural plant (FSP) models represent the shape, architecture, and function of a plant, and can predict growth in relation to environmental factors and nutrition. Currently, FSP models developed for tomato represent plant architecture statically without considering growth and development. Therefore, current models need to be extended with eco-physiological processes governing growth and development taken from FSP models developed for other plant species, as well as from traditional crop models for tomato. These processes include leaf traits related to light absorption, photosynthesis, and growth; plant development in terms of leaf growth, flower and fruit production; and modification of the plant architecture and the consequences for plant growth and development. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses will need to be run on all model parameters to inform phenotyping efforts aimed to obtain the relevant plant parameters.
The emerging plant model will be integrated with a greenhouse climate model, such that the plant model takes the inputs from the greenhouse climate model and the interaction between tomato plant growth and greenhouse climate can be simulated.
In the project, you will work within a multi-disciplinary team consisting of plant scientists, computer vision scientists, engineers working on greenhouse control, and specialists in artificial intelligence.