PeerJ (Oct 2023)
Prediction models of macro-nutrient content in plant organs of Cucumis melo in response to soil elements using support vector regression
Abstract
Background Undoubtedly, the importance of food and food security as one of the present and future challenges is not invisible to anyone. Nowadays, the development of methods for monitoring the nutrient content in crop products is an essential issue for implementing reasonable and logical soil properties management. The modeling technique can evaluate the soil properties of fields and study the subject of crop yield through soil management. This study aims to predict fruit yield and macro-nutrient content in plant organs of Cucumis melo in response to soil elements using support vector regression (SVR). Methodology In the spring of 2020, this study was done as a factorial test in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor was the use of fertilizers in six levels: no fertilizer (control), cow manure (30 t ha−1), sheep manure (30 t ha−1), nanobiomic foliar application (2 l ha−1), silicone foliar application (3 l ha−1), and chemical fertilizer from urea, triple superphosphate, and potassium sulfate sources (200, 100, and 150 kg ha−1). In addition, four levels of vermicompost considering as the second factor: no vermicompost (control), 5, 10, and 15 t ha−1. Input data sets such as fruit yield and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels in the seeds, fruits, leaves, and roots are used to calibrate the probabilistic model of SP using SVR. Results According to the results, when the data sets of the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the fruit uses as input, the accuracy of these models was higher than 80.0% (R2 = 0.807 for predicting fruit nitrogen; R2 = 0.999 for fruit phosphorus; R2 = 0.968 for fruit potassium). Also, the results of the prediction models in response to soil elements showed that the soil nitrogen content ranged from 0.05 to 1.1%, soil phosphorus from 10 to 59 mg kg−1, and soil potassium from 180 to 320 mg kg−1, which offers a suitable macro-nutrient content in the soil. Likewise, the best fruit nitrogen content ranged from 1.27 to 4.33%, fruit phosphorus from 15.74 to 26.19%, fruit potassium from 15.19 to 19.67%, and fruit yield from 2.16 to 5.95 kg per plant obtained under NPK chemical fertilizers and using 15 t ha−1 of vermicompost. Conclusions Because the fruit values had the highest contribution in prediction than observed values, thus identified as the best plant organs in response to soil elements. Based on our findings, the importance of fruit phosphorus identifies as a determinant that strongly influenced melon prediction models. More significant values of soil elements do not affect increasing fruit yield and macro-nutrient content in plant organs, and excessive application may not be economical. Therefore, our studies provide an efficient approach with potentially high accuracy to estimate fruit yield and macro-nutrient in the fruits of Cucumis melo in response to soil elements and cause a saving in the amount of fertilizer during the growing season.
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