Non-destructive evaluation of the leaf area of garlic crop using mathematical models

Abstract

Growth measurements such as leaf area (LA) and dry matter (DM) are important in experiments about plants population, fertilization, irrigation and others parameters of cultivation, in garlic crop. The LA and DM are commonly defined as destructive, lengthy and cause loss of plants in the experimental units. The objective of this study was to fit mathematical models using linear models that estimate the leaf area and dry matter of garlic plants - variety Ito. For that, garlic plants were collected at 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 115 and 120 days after planting. The measurements of width (W), length (L) of leaves, LA, DM, pseudostem diameter (PD), number of leaves per plant (NL) and height (H) were determined in each time. The models were fitted to estimate the LA or DM as function of the variables W, L, L*W, PD and LA. The statistical analysis of the linear regression, coefficient of determination of the linear regression (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), modified concordance index (d1) and the BIAS index were verified to determine the most representative models. It`s possible to estimate the LA and the leaf DM of garlic plants using the variables: length, width, pseudostem diameter and height of plants.