Net radiation, global solar radiation and heat flux from/to the soil both inside and outside greenhouses with polyethylene cover throughout the fall-winter and spring-summer seasons have been assessed at the research station of the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus of Botucatu, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Throughout the cycles of the experiment, both environments scrutinized in the current study were cultivated with cucumber crop - Aoday, Hokuroo - a variety of undetermined growth habit. The results indicated that the greenhouse with polyethylene cover tended to decrease the intensity of solar radiation incidence per unity of area throughout the diurnal period, as well as losses from emission during the nighttime. The transmissivity of polyethylene was altered as a function of the day of the year and exposition time of the material, changing from 70.8% at the winter to 74.9% at the summer seasons. The heat flux from/to the soil during the spring-summer cycle was dependent of the leaf area of the crop.
net radiation; protected environment; soil heat flux; global solar radiation; cucumber crop
