EFFICIENCY AND SUITABILITY OF NON-INVASIVE MEASUREMENTS FOR POTATO PLANTS GROWN IN GREENHOUSE

Abstract

Potato is the most important tuber crop worldwide occupying the fourth place after wheat, maize and rice. Many techniques have been developed to facilitate the monitoring of canopy growth. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and chlorophyll content (SPAD 502) were found to be good indicators for predicting nitrogen deficits and detecting early stress by drought. The experiences were carried in the Laboratory of crop technology and good agricultural practice greenhouse from National Institute of Research and Development for Potato and Sugar Beet Brasov, Romania, during the years 2019-2020. The aim of this study was to observe the behavior of a potato variety using different soil substrates in the greenhouse and identifying the effectiveness of non-invasive measures to determine plant stress. SPAD device detect the distribution of chlorophyll in different growth stages, registering average values on variants between 37.0 and 45.5 units in 2019 and between 34.0 and 39.2 units in 2020. Vegetation indices registered higher values in 2019 compared to 2020, when the values ranged between 73.0 and 78.2.