Experimental evaluation of the thermal and hygrometric behavior of a Colombian greenhouse used for the production of roses (Rosa spp.)

Abstract

The spatial behavior of the environmental variables involved in rose production is one of the factors of greatest current interest in the Colombian ornamental sector. The aim of this work consisted in the evaluation of a passive greenhouse through an experimental approach that included the capture and recording of data through a grid of 40 sensors homogeneously distributed inside the greenhouse. The data processing was carried out through the application of geostatistical techniques that allowed to obtain contour plots for 5 levels of radiation intensity. The results of the exploratory analysis showed that the behavior of temperature, relative humidity and vapour pressure deficit are not the most suitable for rose production, mainly for the conditions of the night period where the temperature exhibited values below 12.5 °C, the relative humidity was above 90% and the vapour pressure deficit was below 0.1 kPa. On the other hand in the structural analysis the circular model of theoretical semivariogram was the one that better degree of adjustment presented in comparison with the experimental data finding that a strong spatial dependency exists for the studied variables, the prediction of the not sampled points was made by means of the method of ordinary kriging finding that horizontal gradients of temperature and relative humidity exist inside the greenhouse that increases in magnitude according to the level of radiation arriving to reach values of 6.1 °C and 30.4%.

Keywords

• geostatistics
• microclimate
• kriging
• spatial variability.