Development of Relationship between Soil Moisture Depletion and Leaf Area Index of Different Horticultural Crops

A relationship between soil moisture depletion and leaf area index (LAI) of mango and brinjal was developed at IGKV, Raipur. A Permanent Profile Soil Moisture Probe was validated for 60 cm depth having 15 cm interval using gravimetric method. Soil properties such as FC, infiltration rate, pH, EC, OC, P and K were analyzed. The values of r2 for the four depths were found to be 0.957, 0.950, 0.954 and 0.895 whereas RMSE values were found to be 1.622, 1.108, 0.857 and 1.051, respectively. A Plant Canopy Analyzer was used to analyze LAI of mango and brinjal for developing the relationships between moisture depletion and LAI. Values of LAI of mango and brinjal found to be 3.29-4.46 and 3.99, respectively. Moisture depletion values of ranged between 7.20-15.81 %, 7.39-11.88 %, 10.59-14.02 % and 19.90-22.66 % for mango with brinjal for 4 depths whereas 7.26-15.13 % and 7.75-16.76 % of mango for 2 depths, respectively.