Estimação da área foliar de cultivares de pepineiro em solo de várzea do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Cucumber is a vegetable crop native from Índia, which presents herbaceous and annual habit. The fruit has distinct sizes, shapes and flavor. This plant is not adapted to low temperatures. The leaf area index is considered a parameter indicative of yield, frequently used in studies to evaluate plant growth. The objective of this study was estimating the leaf area of Cucumis sativus L. in function of the linear dimensions of the leaves. An experiment with two different cucumber cultivars (Branco Meio-Comprido and Conserva Wisconsin SMR 18) was conducted in the 2015/16 crop year. At 60 days after transplantation, 600 leaves were randomly collected. On each leaf, the linear dimensions were measured (length, width and length × width product) and the true leaf area determined through Digimizer® software. To the Branco Meio-Comprido cultivar, the quadratic model AF = 0.0006CL² + 0.6714CL (R² = 0.9854), in function of the length times width product is suitable for the leaf area estimation. The Conserva Wisconsin SMR 18 cultivar had a better matching with the quadratic model AF = 0.0003CL² + 0.7013CL (R² = 0.9765), which also depends on the length times width. In general, the quadratic model AF = 0,0005CL² + 0,6805CL (R² = 0.9818) can be used with high precision to estimate the total leaf area of both Cucumis sativus L. cultivars.