Root systems are difficult to observe, quantify, and interpret, being those the reasons why the scientific knowledge about roots is so poor. These difficulties make root architecture virtually impossible to be properly analyzed and understood by classical statistics, being simulation modeling an attractive approach. The plant species studied in this paper was soybean, a herbaceous dicotyledon, since most of the structural and functional investigations on root systems have been carried out for a few monocotyledon species. Insufficient phosphorus supply in agricultural soils often affects crop yield, and therefore the effects of soil P concentration on soybean root architecture were studied. The proposed simulation model is a promising methodology for root data analysis, allowing a proper visualization of different plant adaptation strategies, as reflected by different root architectures.
Glycine max; modeling; mathematical model; root; soil nutrient; phosphorus