Leaf Area Estimation in Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea L.)

A method for leaf area determination in arrowroot ( Maranta arundinacea L.) was developed at Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India. There was significant positive correlation between length (L) and area (A) (r = 0.922) and breadth (B) and area (A) (r = 0.955) of leaf. The factor (F) of relationship between L and A of leaf was 5.733 and that between B and A of leaf was 17.769. The relation between product of length and breadth (P) and A of leaf was also significant (r= 0.994) and the F between P and A was 0.761. The linear regression equation between L and A, B and A and between P and A were Y = 11.98 x – 141.1, Y = 29.14 x – 81.22 and Y = 0.743 x +2.861 respectively. The coefficient of determination (r 2 ) values between L and A, B and A and between P and A were 0.850, 0.911 and 0.987 respectively. The r 2 value observed between P and A near to 1 suggested that the regression equation was good fit. Therefore, using the F value derived from P, the total leaf area of a plant can be calculated by the formula: Total leaf area = P of a single leaf (average value of few observations) x 0.761 x total number of leaves per plant. The coefficient of determination closer to 1 (r 2 = 0.900) and significant positive correlation coefficient value (r = 0.949) between area and weight of dry leaf suggest that the dry leaf weight method can also be used for calculating leaf area of arrowroot plant. The factor (F) derived between weight of dry leaf and area of leaf was 0.268. From the F value, the total area of arrowroot can be calculated by the formula: Total leaf area = weight of a single dry leaf (average of few leaves) x 0.268 x total number of leaves per plant.