Determination of yield by plant leaf temperature and thermal imaging in banana (Musa spp. AAA) under different cover materials

Abstract

Global warming, particularly drought and climate change, negatively affects plant production. In crops like bananas, which have high water consumption, it is important to identify drought-resistant varieties. The objective of the study to investigate the effects of two different types of plastic cover material (CM), namely the traditional plastic cover (CM1) and produced with CO-EX technology cover material (CM2), on the yield, and certain quality parameters of two different banana cultivars (‘Grand Nain’ (BC1), ‘Williams’ (BC2)). In addition to the leaf temperature values were obtained by acquiring the thermal images for banana grown under different greenhouse cover materials. Beside the climatic data and thermal imaging, some physical characteristics and yield such as the number of hand, number of finger, finger weight, finger length and yield per ha were examined. The properties of plastic cover materials have significant effects on the average inside temperature and humidity values, and thus on related parameters in banana including number of fingers, finger weight, yield and leaf temperature. The produced with CO-EX technology cover material (CM2) exhibited higher temperature and relative humidity compared to the traditional plastic cover (CM1). The FLIR Tools analysis results of thermal images obtained for banana crops under different greenhouse cover materials, it is evident that warm colors dominate more in the CM2 greenhouse for both banana cultivars. The yield per ha was the highest in CM2BC2 (41.9 ton ha-1) and the lowest in CM1BC2 (37.8 ton ha-1). These findings indicate that optimizing greenhouse cover materials can enhance yield and resilience to abiotic stresses, thereby supporting sustainable banana production under changing climatic condition