Estimación del área foliar del arándano (Vaccinium corymbosum) por medio de un método no destructivo

Abstract

A research was carried out in order to estimate a leaf area model for blue berry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in high altitude tropical conditions, using linear measurements such as lamina length (L), width (W) and the length-width product (LxW) by stepwise regression analysis. Leaves from Sharp Blue and Biloxi cultivars were used to develop the model in the localities of Sibaté and Firavitoba. The calibration step was developed with plants coming from Sibaté, with 180 observations and the models validation was effectuated at Firavitoba. Six models were obtained, three linear and three polynomial of second order, for each genetic material. The selection model forms were, LA = 0.638(LW), R 2 0.94, and LA = 0.0075(LW) 2 +0.3321(LW)+2.2104, R 2 0.94. These models were validated by measuring new leaf samples taken from different plant levels (low, medium and superior) of, only, the cultivar Sharp Blue. The models of Biloxi presented very low R 2 and high CME. The models produced in this study can be used reliably for estimating the individual leaf area coming from different levels of the vegetal canopy of the blueberry cv Sharp Blue, and also, estimate the total plant leaf area, without destructive method. They are not recommendable for the Biloxi cultivar.