Estimating leaf area of warm‐season perennial legumes

Abstract

Refining mathematical models may decrease labour and generate accurate estimates of leaf area in warm‐season perennial legumes. The aim of this study was to assess the use of mathematical models to determine the leaf area of four tropical forage legumes. Perennial legumes (Arachis pintoi, Stylosanthes spp., Calopogonium mucunoides and Neonotonia wightii) were collected, and an elliptical model urn:x-wiley:01425242:media:gfs12290:gfs12290-math-0001 and a corrected elliptical model urn:x-wiley:01425242:media:gfs12290:gfs12290-math-0002 were used to estimate leaf area. For comparison, linear models were also generated based on the leaflet area. The elliptical model was suitable for the initial forage peanut leaflets, while the corrected elliptical model proved suitable for estimating the area of the initial leaflets of all species as well as the terminal leaflets of forage peanut and stylo. The elliptical model could be used to estimate the area of both the initial and terminal leaflets only in stylo. Models were generated to estimate leaf area of all legumes requiring only the measurement of length and width from a single initial leaflet. In all of the studied legumes, the leaflet pairs were symmetrical, meaning the corrected elliptical model allows for the estimation of the leaflet area of each plant.