Abstract

MOLLERICONA ALFARO, Marcela Daniela; LAIME CALLE, Esther Esperanza  and  MERMA SANTOS, Efraín Adolfo. Non-destructive estimation of the foliar area in cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) plantules from linear leaf measurements, Sapecho Experimental Station. Apthapi [online]. 2022, vol.8, n.1, pp. 10-19. ISSN 0102-0304.

ABSTRACT: This study conducted at the Sapecho Experimental Station, during September and October 2021, aimed to obtain statistical models to estimate and predict the leaf area of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) seedlings of the Bolivian National (CNB) and foreign (CF IMC67) types, based on the length (L) and width (A) of the leaf, for which randomized samples were taken in 100 plants and three strata of the plant. The measurements obtained were correlated to generate simple linear regression equations (as a function of length and width) and multiple linear regression equations (as a function of length times width), and validation was performed by comparing estimated and measured leaf area data. Leaf area was highly correlated with length, width and length by width, with the best fitting models being those comparing leaf area with length by width: AF = 0. 6623 L*A+ 1.474 (CNB), AF = 0.6668 L*A + 5.1576 (CF IMC67) and AF = 0.6877 L*A + 0.5189 (combination of both cultivars), whose coefficients of determination were R²=0.9660, R²=0.9486 and R²=0.9647. In the validation, Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) presented values higher than 0.9, indicating a close relationship between the estimated and observed data. The equations obtained allow the predictive estimation of leaf area in cocoa seedlings in a reliable and simple way from easily obtainable length and width measurements, without the need to destroy the plants. The best model obtained was the multiple linear model of length by width

Keywords : Leaves; leaf area; regression model; prediction; cacao.