engleski

Chlorophyll meter reading - a reliable tool for the estimation of tobacco leaf ripeness for harvesting

Field trials were conducted to determine the reliability and efficiency of non-destructive rapid instrumental tools in tobacco production for predicting optimum leaf ripeness for harvest. In this investigation, tobacco leaf ripeness was assessed using a CCM-200 portable chlorophyll meter. The experiments were performed during 2007 and 2008. The factors consisted of the manner of harvest (7, 4 and 3 primings) and the degree of ripeness at the time of harvest (unripe, ripe and overripe). Tobacco was harvested in the unripe, ripe and overripe stages, determined on the basis of chlorophyll readings, in the ranges of 20–25, 15–20 and 10–15 in 2007 and 15–20, 10–15 and 5–10 in 2008. The reliability and efficiency of the estimation of the ripeness of tobacco leaves for harvest were evaluated on the basis of the agronomic traits considered in the light of previous knowledge and the results obtained in similar investigations by other authors when harvesting was carried out on the basis of the visual assessment of the ripeness of the leaves for harvest. The greatest yield, price and total value were achieved in 2007 with the harvest of overripe tobacco and in 2008 with the harvest of ripe tobacco. In 2007, there was no decline in the value of the agronomic properties investigated when harvesting took place during the phase of overripeness, as was generally the case in the investigations performed by other authors, and which in fact did occur in the following year. In both years of the study, the best results were achieved when the tobacco was harvested within a chlorophyll reading range of 10–15. The results of this investigation definitely lead to the conclusion that the chlorophyll reading is a reliable and effective tool for the assessment of the ripeness of tobacco leaves for harvesting.

flue-cured tobacco; chlorophyll meter; chlorophyll content index (CCI); ripeness

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