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Virtual trees and light capture: a method for optimizing agroforestry stand design

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Abstract

In agroforestry systems, the distribution of light transmitted under tree canopies can be a limiting factor for the development of intercrops. The light available for intercrops depends on the quantity of light intercepted by tree canopies and, consequently, on the architecture of the tree species present. The influence of tree architecture on light transmission was analysed using dynamic 3D architectural models. The architectural analysis of Acacia mangium and Tectona grandis was performed in Indonesian agroforestry systems with trees aged from 1 to 3 years. 3D virtual trees were then generated with the AmapSim simulation software and 3D virtual experiments in which tree age, planting density, planting pattern and pruning intensity varied were reconstructed in order to simulate light available for the crop. Canopy closure of trees was more rapid in A. mangium than in T. grandis agroforestry systems; after 3 years the quantity of light available for A. mangium intercrops was three times lower than under T. grandis. Simulations with A. mangium showed that practices such as pruning and widening tree spacing enable to increase the total transmitted light within the stand. On T. grandis, modification of the tree row azimuth resulted in changes in the spatial and seasonal distribution of light available for the intercrops. These results are discussed in terms of agroforestry system management.

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Notes

  1. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/sea/Products/training/GroupTra/SAFODS/result.asp.

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Acknowledgments

This work was performed within the framework of the SAFODS project (Smallholder AgroForestry Options for Degraded Soils: Tree establishment in cropped fields) in Brawijawa university, Malang, East Java, Indonesia. It was partly funded by the EU contract ICA4-CT-2001-10092. AMAP (Botany and Computational Plant Architecture) is a joint research unit which associates CIRAD (UMR51), CNRS (UMR5120), INRA (UMR931), IRD (R123), and Montpellier 2 University (UM27); http://amap.cirad.fr/. The supports are gratefully acknowledged. We thank Y. Caraglio and T. Fourcaud for their relevant comments on the manuscript and two anonymous reviewers.

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Author notes

  1. Céline Leroy

    Present address: CNRS, UMR EcoFoG, 97379, Kourou, French Guiana

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR AMAP, 34000, Montpellier, France

    Céline Leroy & Daniel Auclair

  2. CIRAD, UMR AMAP (botAnique et bioinforMatique de l’Architecture des Plantes), TA A-51/PS2, bd. de la Lironde, 34398, Montpellier cedex 5, France

    Sylvie Sabatier, Jean-François Barczi, Jean Dauzat & Marilyne Laurans

  3. Fakultas Pertanian, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia

    Céline Leroy & Novi Sari Wahyuni

Authors
  1. Céline Leroy
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  2. Sylvie Sabatier
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  3. Novi Sari Wahyuni
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  4. Jean-François Barczi
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  5. Jean Dauzat
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  6. Marilyne Laurans
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  7. Daniel Auclair
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Correspondence to Sylvie Sabatier.

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Leroy, C., Sabatier, S., Wahyuni, N.S. et al. Virtual trees and light capture: a method for optimizing agroforestry stand design. Agroforest Syst 77, 37–47 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-009-9232-z

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