Abstract

DE LA CASA, A. et al. Predicting potato yield variability from foliage cover. Agriscientia [online]. 2012, vol.29, n.1, pp.15-24. ISSN 1668-298X.

The ground cover (f) is an important biophysical parameter to determine both the fraction of intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (fRFAI), and the rate of water that is transpired by a crop. During the autumn/late growing seasons of 2009 and 2010, the potential of f and fRFAI to estimate potato yield (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Spunta), and to evaluate the spacial variability of production in a plot of the green belt of Cordoba, Argentina, was discussed. While fRFAI showed greater ability to explain the variability of tuber yield at harvest, using ground cover duration, the f accumulated until 60 days after planting reached an R² of 0.77 (P < 0.01) in 2009, which increased to 0.95 in 2010 70 days after planting from a more intensive sampling (f was obtained from an average of nine photographs taken at 2.5 m height). The use of a single value of f obtained near maximum coverage reduces the predictive power of cumulative values. Based on a 5x5 grid sampling in 2009 it was found that there is a significant component of the variability associated with furrow planting.

Keywords : Potato; Ground cover; Duration of ground cover; Yield prediction; Spatial variability.

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