Frequentist and Bayesian inference for gas exchanges of drip-irrigated bell pepper1

Abstract

The water deficit or excess may cause undesirable changes in yield and physiological aspects of irrigated crops. Considering the analysis of experimental data, the use of classical statistical methods may not be sufficient to detect morphological and physiological effects resulting from the conditions employed, being interesting the use of new procedures, such as the Bayesian inference. This study aimed to evaluate the gas exchanges in the bell pepper crop under irrigation depths and different irrigation times, in a protected environment, by applying the parametric and Bayesian methods. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, arranged in a 5 x 2 factorial scheme, with five irrigation depths (60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 % of the crop evapotranspiration) and two irrigation times (8 a.m. and 2 p.m.), with five replications. The stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetic rate, intrinsic water-use efficiency, ratio between the photosynthetic rate and the transpiration rate, and total dry matter were evaluated. The gas exchanges were affected by water replacement depths, with little interference from the irrigation times. The linear regression models, according to the irrigation depths, for transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and total dry matter were significant for both the statistical methods, suggesting that the results are similar and even coincident, especially when a priori information are not provided in the Bayesian analysis. Differences in the photosynthetic rate were observed only with the Bayesian method, adjusting linear models according to the irrigation depths, in both the irrigation times.

Performance of tomato grown under different water replacement depths and silicon application forms

“…According to Chakma et al (2021), the application of 300 kg ha -1 of silicon improves fruit yield in tomato under moderate water stress. Under conditions similar to the present study, Santos et al (2021) achieved better assimilate partitioning and higher yields in melon under severe water deficit (40% of ETc) when applying silicon via fertigation. Lozano et al (2018) also evaluated silicon application on melon and noted improvements in postharvest traits such as soluble solids content and the maturity index.…”

“…As indicated in Table 3, water replacement showed a high correlation with morphological and production components, resulting in decreased fruit weight and yield per plant but an increase in the number of fruits damaged due to physiological disorders (Table 2). Given the responses of tomato plants to water replacement, the use of silicon proves relevant in mitigating the effects of water stress (Chen et al, 2018;Chakma et al, 2021;Nocchi et al, 2021;Santos et al, 2021). This potential, coupled with the low silicon accumulation in tomato (Zhu et al, 2019) and its low levels in the region's soil, ranging from 10 to 20 mg dm -3 (Wenneck et al, 2022), highlights the significance of the results presented here.…”

“…Various techniques and management tools can be employed to alleviate the impacts of water stress on plants. These encompass controlled water restriction during less sensitive stages (Terassi et al, 2021), the interval between water replacements (Santos et al, 2021), nutritional management (Saath et al, 2022), and the application of beneficial elements (Lozano et al, 2018;Hachmann et al, 2019).…”

“…2023 et al, 2021). Furthermore, the interaction of Si with the production system may vary according to its application form and the crop of interest (Costan et al, 2019;Nocchi et al, 2021;Santos et al, 2021).…”