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The estimation of percentage light interception from leaf area index and percentage ground cover in potatoes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

Lindsay Burstall  and
P. M. Harris
Lindsay Burstall
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Reading University, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 2AT
P. M. Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, Reading University, Earley Gate, Reading, RG6 2AT
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Extract

Since Monteith (1977) proposed that growth can be analysed in terms of the amount of energy intercepted by the leaf surface and the efficiency of its use, there has been much interest in the measurement of light interception in potato crops (Scott & Wilcockson, 1978; Milford et al. 1980; Allen & Scott, 1980). This can be measured directly using tube solarimeters placed horizontally above and below the canopy. However, this method suffers from three major drawbacks: (a) in an experiment with many plots it becomes expensive in terms of equipment, (b) a single solarimeter samples only a very small part of the plot canopy, and (c) the solarimeter cannot distinguish between living leaves and other material. Thus, when the crop lodges and/or starts to senesce, visual observations suggest that the area over the solarimeter may not be representative of the plot as a whole.

Type
Short Note
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 100 , Issue 1 , February 1983 , pp. 241 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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References

Allen, E. J. & Scott, R. K. (1980). An analysis of growth of the potato crop. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 94, 583–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Monteith, J. L. (1977). Climate and the efficiency of crop production in Britain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 281, 277–294.Google Scholar
Scott, R. K. & Wilcockson, S. J. (1978). Application of physiological and agronomic principles to the development of the potato industry. In The Potato Crop: the Scientific Basis for Improvement (ed. Harris, P. M.), pp. 678–704. London: Chapman and Hall,CrossRefGoogle Scholar