Quantification based on dimensionless dendrometry and drying of residual biomass from the pruning of orange trees in Bolivar province (Ecuador)

Abstract

[EN] In this work, a new approach to evaluating the amount of residual biomass obtained from orange trees based on normalization of variables is proposed for Bolivar province, Ecuador. So far, several models to quantify the amount of residues obtained from pruning have been proposed from dendrometric and cultivation variables, such as height, crown diameter, stem diameter, area per plant, yield, and age. However, the high dispersion of their values, caused by uncontrolled conditions, gave models with a low-medium coeffi cient of determination. The aim of this work has been to develop several models in order to predict wet available biomass using dimensionless dendrometric parameters from height, diameter and height of the crown, and the stem height. They improved the coeffi cients of determination to 0.94 for the global mathematical model. The drying process of pruned materials has also been analyzed. Residual biomass with 50% initial moisture content was dried outdoors on cement and agricultural soil until it reached constant moisture content. Models used to describe the drying process of agricultural products were employed to fi t the observed data of the drying process of orange tree chips. Among the tested models, the Midili and Page models were those that best fi tted the observed data in the drying process. The information offered by these equations is of vital importance because they help estimate the amount of biomass that is generated in a given area, and the implementation geographic information system (GIS) maps. In addition, logistic algorithms can be applied.