Fitting a logistic growth model to yield traits of lettuce cultivars growing in summer

Abstract

The objective of this study was to fit a logistic model to fresh and dry matters of leaves and fresh and dry matters of shoots of four lettuce cultivars to describe growth in summer. Cultivars Crocantela, Elisa, Rubinela, and Vera were evaluated in the summer of 2017 and 2018, in soil in protected environment and in soilless system. Seven days after transplantation, fresh and dry leaf matters and fresh and dry shoot matters of 8 plants were weighed every 4 days. The model parameters were estimated using the software R, using the least squares method and iterative process of Gauss-Newton. We also estimated the confidence intervals of the parameters, verified the assumptions of the models, calculated the goodness-of-fit measures and the critical points, and quantified the parametric and intrinsic nonlinearities. The logistic growth model fitted well to fresh and dry leaf and shoot matters of cultivars Crocantela, Elisa, Rubinela, and Vera and is indicated to describe the growth of lettuce.