Root Growth Simulation Using L-systems

Dynamic root growth simulation is an important tool when analysing the mechanisms within the rhizosphere. The concentration of nutrients in the soil as well as water content is strongly dependent on the root structure. On the other hand root growth is effected by the nutrient concentration and water supply as well as other soil parameters. As a result realistic root growth models are often coupled with models describing the plant-soil interactions. In this paper we present an L-System algorithm which makes it possible to easily create 3-dimensional geometries of growing plant root systems. Furthermore we discuss possibilities of coupling these root growth system models with arbitrary models describing plant-soil interaction. The model is implemented in Matlab, which makes it easy to couple it to existing Matlab or Comsol models.