Characterizing diploid and tetraploid potato cultivars with reflectance spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract Characterizing potato cultivars provides information for diagnosing the needs of specific production and management. Techniques that enable rapid, objective, and low-cost identification of various aspects of plant physiology are important to producing this information. This study aimed to identify potato cultivars during three phenological phases using reflectance spectroscopy in the visible and near-infrared ranges. Reflectance spectra were measured using a portable spectrometer from leaves of five potato cultivars. Classification models were made to obtain the percentages of correct classification for each cultivar and phenological stage. General patterns in the reflectance spectra were obtained that were similar for all five cultivars in the measured range, with reflectance around 5% in the green region during the vegetative phase, decreasing slightly during the flowering phase and increasing up to 12% during the senescence phase. A decrease from 50–30% in reflectance was recorded in the measured NIR range during flowering with a variable increase that depended on the cultivar towards senescence. The identified wavelengths allowed the plants of each cultivar to be classified during the vegetative, flowering, and senescence phases, with correct classification rates of 87% for Var Paola, 96% for Var Paysandú, 93% for Var Violeta, and 100% for varieties 448 and 440. Var Paola obtained higher percentages of correct classification with values between 85% for Paysandú and Violeta, 90% for cv 440, and 100% for cv 448. The characterization of potato cultivars with spectroscopy techniques provides information that can be used as a basic input in precision agriculture systems.