Spatially resolved analysis of growth dynamics in pome and drupe fruits of Rosaceae using 3D Gaussian Splatting

作者：Ayame Shimbo, Soichiro NISHIYAMA, Akane Kusumi, Takuya Morimoto, Hisayo Yamane, Akihiro Itai, Ryutaro Tao · 发表于：Plant Phenomics · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.1016/j.plaphe.2026.100166 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Greenhouse Technology and Climate Control、Plant Molecular Biology Research、Plant Surface Properties and Treatments

Fruit growth has long been described using single- or double-sigmoid curves; however, these temporal models cannot fully capture the spatial heterogeneity that ultimately shapes a fruit. Here, we present a three-dimensional analysis pipeline that non-destructively tracks spatial fruit growth dynamics from field-collected imagery. Surface landmarks were drawn, and video recordings were taken throughout development for three pome fruits, apple ( Malus × domestica ), Japanese pear ( Pyrus pyrifolia ) and European pear ( Pyrus communis ), and two drupe fruits, peach ( Prunus persica ) and Japanese apricot ( Prunus mume ), to track their motion. Using 3D Gaussian splatting, we successfully reconstructed 3D models of the fruits, and the landmark displacement could be measured with high accuracy, with R 2 ≥ 0.98 when compared to manual recordings. We found a common spatial growth gradient in the longitudinal growth shared in the pomes and drupes of the Rosaceae; proximal (stem-end) regions exhibited more pronounced growth than the distal (stylar) end. An exception was found in European pear ‘Bartlett,’ which showed relatively vigorous growth in the distal region, explaining its distinct shape with expanded distal end. Transverse expansion varied far less than longitudinal expansion, with a possible association with initial fruit morphology. Inter-fruit growth variability peaked in the fastest-growing regions, particularly in the distal area of the European pear, highlighting the lin...