Vegetation Indices for Predicting the Growth and Harvest Rate of Lettuce

Urbanization has provided greater demand for food, and the search strategies capable of reducing waste is essential to ensure food security. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) culture a short life cycle its harvest point determined visually, causing important losses. Using vegetation indices could be an alternative reduce errors during definition. The objective this study was evaluate different predict growth rate lettuce. Twenty-five genotypes biofortified green lettuce were evaluated. Green Leaf Index (GLI), Normalized Red Difference (NGRDI), Spectral Slope Saturation (SI), Overall Hue (HUE) calculated from images captured at 1, 8, 18, 24, 36 days after transplanting (vegetative state). diameter average leaf area plants measured using QGIS software. mass, number leaves, plant stem in field. means compared Scott–Knott test (p ≤ 0.05) simple linear regression models generated monitor rate, obtaining R2 values ranging 62% 99%. Genetic dissimilarity confirmed by multivariate analysis presenting cophenetic correlation coefficient 88.49%. Furthermore, validation between data collected field versus obtained imaging performed Pearson’s correlations showed moderate high values. Overall, SI, GLI, NGRDI efficient monitoring determining genotypes, attempts It suggested that definition based on are specific each genotype.