Estimativa de área foliar em espécies de mucuna

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to estimate the leaf area of velvet bean (Mucuna aterrima), velvet bean (Mucuna deeringiana) and velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) as a function of the length or the width, and/or the product of length times width of the center leaflet blade of the leaf, in order to generate statistical modeling of these plants. An experiment was carried out with velvet bean species in the experimental area of the Federal University of Santa Maria. To determine the leaf area, 250 complete leaves of each species were collected, each one consisting of the left, central and right leaflets, chosen at random and with different sizes. In these 250 leaves, the maximum length (C, in cm) and width (L, in cm) of the central leaflet were measured with a millimeter ruler, and the product length times width (CxL) was calculated. Then, the leaves with their three leaflets were digitized using a scanner. Subsequently, among the 250 leaves, 50 were selected, used only in the validation of the model. With the C, L, C×L and Y data from the remaining 200 leaves, measures of central tendency and variability were calculated, and quadratic, linear and power models were constructed. In dwarf velvet bean, the power model (LA = 4,6045L1,8056 R² = 0,9343) based on the width of the central leaflet is adequate to estimate the leaf area obtained by digital photos. In velvet bean, the power model (4.1084L1.8843 R² = 0.9683) based on the width of the central leaflet is adequate to estimate the leaf area obtained by digital photos. In velvet bean, the power model (LA = 2.5610LW1.0075 R² = 0.9418) based on the product length times width of the central leaflet is adequate to estimate the real leaf area.