COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR MEASURING LEAF CHARACTERISTICS AND EVALUATION OF CHLOROPHYLL CONTENT IN TEN ROCOTO PEPPER ACCESSIONS FROM THE INIA, PERU, GERMPLASM BANK

Dadther-Huaman H.; Delgado-Lazo A.; Pacheco-Lizarraga G.A. · Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems (2025) · DOI: 10.56369/tsaes.6197

Resumen

Background: The rocoto pepper (Capsicum pubescens), native to the Andes, is a species of great importance in Peru, both in agriculture and gastronomy, especially in the department of Arequipa. Objective: To compare the accuracy and relationship between the methods of measuring leaf area, length, width and perimeter using ImageJ software and the portable meter CI-202, as well as to evaluate the chlorophyll content with the SPAD 502 Plus in ten accessions of rocoto pepper. Methodology: Tests of normality and homogeneity of variances were carried out for the leaf and chlorophyll variables. Then, ANOVA and Tukey’s test (p < 0.05) were applied to compare accessions, in addition to a Pearson correlation analysis. To compare the leaf area measurements with ImageJ and CI-202 with the product of leaf length and leaf width, a linear regression model was used, in the same way leaf area and chlorophyll content were compared. Results: Accessions PER1002862 and PER1002844 showed the highest values in all parameters, while PER1002960 and PER1002949 had the lowest, except for chlorophyll, where PER1002821 recorded the lowest value. The CI-202 portable meter obtained a higher coefficient of determination (R2=0.9919) than ImageJ (R2=0.984) when comparing leaf area with the product of length and width. Implications: The study evaluates the accuracy of ImageJ and CI-202 in leaf measurement and its relationship with chlorophyll content in C. pubescens. Conclusions: Both methods, ImageJ and CI-202, were effective for leaf measurement; However, the CI-202 was more efficient due to its speed in data collection and processing. Chlorophyll content varied among accessions, without relation to leaf area. © the authors. Work licensed under a CC-BY 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/