The Relationship Between NDVI Values and Growth of Tomatillo, Cabbage and Habanero Chili Pepper

Abstract

The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is the most widely used index to identify the greenness and leaf area covering the ground for the crops. In this study, relationships between growth and NDVI were identified for three crops: tomatillo [(Physalis ixocarpa), cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. Capitata), and habanero pepper (Capsicum chinenese Jacq.)]. Results showed that a quadratic and high significantly relationship between biomass and NDVI values, was identified for tomatillo (R² = 0.7072, P ˂ 0.001). For cabbage, a linear relationship was obtained between leaf area and dry biomass versus NDVI (R² = 0.7617, P ˂ 0.001; R² = 0.8854, P ˂ 0.001). In habanero pepper cultivated under shadenet, the results showed a high and significantly relationships between growth index and plant height versus NDVI values (R² = 0.5061, P ˂ 0.001; R² = 0.5339, P ˂ 0.001). Finally, for habanero pepper grown under open field conditions, the relationship throughout all growth cycle, was cubic for the growth index and NDVI values (R² = 0.7187, P ˂ 0.001). In conclusion, the usefulness of NDVI as a good tool was confirmed in the crops here evaluated.