A Review of Some Non-Destructive Linear Measurement Procedures for Leaf Area Determination in Crops

Abstract

In the determination of leaf area, predictive regression models derived from linear measurements have been shown to correlate very well with actual leaf area. These predictive regression models are crop specific. Several reports, however, have shown that the use of linear measurements have been very much abused as models determined for one crop, for instance, has been severally been used for others. Thus, this paper reviews linear measurement procedures and predictive equations for some commonly researched crops. Leaf area determined from linear measurements is based on the area of a given surface being a product of length and width. From the model: length x width x 0.75 first reported for maize, models have been developed, in cucumber for instance, to include a single measurement of length in order to reduce the amount of time used in carrying out measurements.


Int. J. Agric. Rural Dev., 2003, 4: 74-80