Modification of the thermal regime of soil-plant systems under nonwoven polypropylene and external conditions

SummaryA model for describing the modification of soil and air temperature by nonwoven polypropylene has been developed. Such a model takes into account the first two harmonics of the Fourier series determined from the normalized data of soil and surface temperature. The numerical model predicts with accuracy the soil thermal regime for hourly and daily intervals throughout the crop production cycles of Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. pekinensis), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), table beet (Beta vulgaris) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea). Furthermore, the model proposed by Parton (1984) has been modified to estimate the surface temperature based on data of temperature measured at 2.m height, biomass and global solar radiation flux density incident on the crop grown under nonwoven polypropylene conditions.