Relationship among specific leaf area, leaf nitrogen, leaf phosphorus and photosynthetic rate in herbaceous species of tropical dry deciduous in Vindhyan highlands

A range of leaf attributes was measured for 17 herbaceous species in four contrasting habitats fortnightly from July to September during 2996-2007. All herbaceous vegetation in 5 randomly located plots within each of four sites were clipped at ground level and analyzed fortnightly. Leaf area was recorded by the leaf area meter (Systronics; Leaf area meter- 211). Fresh leaves were dried at 80o C for 48 hr to estimate their dry weight. Specific Leaf Area (SLA) was determined as ratio of leaf area to leaf dry weight. Leaf nitrogen was measured by Kjeldahl method and phosphorus by phosphomolybdic blue colorimetric method. The obtained values were subjected to Two- tailed Pearson correlation coefficients using SPSS (2004 ver. 13) package. SLA, leaf nitrogen, leaf phosphorus and photosynthetic rate show positive relationship with each other.