ABSTRACT:
The prediction of leaf area (LA) without causing damage to the plant is a subject of great interest in agricultural research. In this study, it was developed and tested three models based on the length (L), width (W) or both of these leaf dimensions of 'BRS Kampai' peach trees. Further to this, a DEMIRSOY et al. (2004) generic model proposed to determine leaf area in peach trees growing in Turkey was also tested. The use of only one dimension, which aims to reduce the effort required by the assessor, does not permit adequate predictions and may lead to statistical errors by changing the variability of the original LA data. The model proposed in this study was "LA=6.852+0.823L*W-0.691W2-1.614L/W", this model can be used to satisfactorily estimate the LA, replacing the destructive analysis, and provided a better prediction than the generic model proposed by DEMIRSOY et al. (2004).
Key words:
Prunus pérsica; model; validation; stepwise regression analysis
