Global food production and availability in hot climate zones are limited by biotic and abiotic factors that affect agricultural production. One of the alternatives for intensifying agriculture and improving food security in these regions is the use of naturally ventilated greenhouses, an alternative that still requires information that allows technical criteria to be established for decision-making. Therefore, the objective of this work was to study the spatial distribution of temperature and relative humidity inside a greenhouse built in the Colombian Caribbean. The methodological approach included the implementation of an experimentally validated 3D numerical simulation model. The main results obtained allowed to determine that the airflows generated inside the greenhouse had average velocities below 0.5 m/s and were mainly driven by the thermal effect of natural ventilation. It was also found that the gradients generated between the interior of the structure and the exterior environment presented values lower than 2.0°C for temperature and −6.3% for relative humidity. These values can be considered low in comparison with other structures evaluated in other regions of the world where the gradients can reach values higher than 10°C and 13% for temperature and relative humidity, respectively.
In Colombia, the highest cassava production comes from the semi-arid region of the Atlantic Coast with relatively low yield for fresh consumption (≤11 t/ha). Development of improved varieties is based on a plant ideotype which integrates a group of desirable traits independently measured in the field. However, selecting high performance genotypes for several traits simultaneously is a complex process. Sixteen genotypes were evaluated under four environmental conditions (localities) of the Colombian Caribbean region (Cereté, Carmen de Bolivar, Agustín Codazzi, and Sevilla), and two production cycles (2016/2017–2017/2018) in order to assess phenotypic expression of selected traits, their stability, and utility in genotype selection. Selection of promising genotypes should consider both their superiority and stability. Genotypes SM3106-14, GM1692-56, CM9456-12, and GM214-62 were selected based on their agronomic performance. In addition, frequency analysis of sensorial data showed that genotypes CM9456-12, SM1127-8, SM3553-27, and SM3562-32 were preferred by panelists who assessed, color, flavor, texture, and root shape. Determination of superiority through across-environments, multi-trait selection index allows identifying genotypes with superior performance. However, selection was improved when local multi-trait selection indices were included—phenotypic stability determination (through Lin and Binns index and AMMI model) supported an adequate selection of superior and stable cassava genotypes. The inclusion of palatability response and quality features determination in cassava genotypes can be recommended to identify genotypes with higher adoption rates by farmers and consumers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.