MODELING PLANT NUTRIENT UPTAKE: MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS AND OPTIMAL CONTROL.

The article studies the nutrient transfer mechanism and its control for mixed cropping systems. It presents a mathematical analysis and optimal control of the absorbed nutrient concentration, governed by a transport-diffusion equation in a bounded domain near the root system, satisfying to the Michaelis-Menten uptake law. The existence, uniqueness and positivity of a solution (the absorbed concentration) is proved. We also show that for a given plant we can determine the optimal amount of required nutrients for its growth. The characterization of the optimal control leading to the desired concentration at the root surface is obtained. Finally, some numerical simulations to evaluate the theoretical results are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]