A Biomass-Driven 3D Structural Model for Banana (Musa spp.) Fruit Fingers Across Genotypes

Abstract

Banana (Musa spp.) fruit morphology is a key determinant of yield and quality, yet modeling its 3D structural dynamics across genotypes remains difficult. To address this challenge, we developed a generic, biomass-driven 3D structural model for banana fruit fingers that quantitatively links growth and morphology. Field experiments were conducted over two growing seasons in Hainan, China, using three representative genotypes. Morphological traits, including outer and inner arc length, circumference, and pedicel length, along with dry (Wd) and fresh weight (Wf), were measured every 10 days after flowering until 110 days. Quantitative relationships between morphological traits and Wf, as well as between Wd and Wf, were fitted using linear or Gompertz functions with genotype-specific parameters. Based on these functions, a parameterized 3D reconstruction method was implemented in Python, combining biomass-driven growth equations, curvature geometry, and cross-sectional interpolation to simulate the fruit’s bending, tapering, and volumetric development. The resulting dynamic 3D models accurately reproduced genotype-specific differences in curvature, length, and shape with average fitting R2 > 0.95. The proposed biomass-driven 3D structural model provides a methodological framework for integrating banana fruit morphology into functional–structural plant models.

Code and data availability

The paper explicitly states that the source code of the Banana Morphology Simulation System and the datasets are publicly available on GitHub at the authors' URL, which matches an allowed URL. This covers the paper's phenotyping datasets and analysis/3D modeling code.