LEAF AREA OF Erythrina velutina Willd. (FABACEAE) THROUGH ALLOMETRIC EQUATIONS

Leaf area estimation is of fundamental importance to evaluate growth, development, and propagation plants. This work aimed adjust identify regression models estimate leaf Erythrina velutina from linear dimensions the central leaflet leaves. Two hundred simple leaves were collected E. mother plants in forest fragments municipality Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte state, Northeast Brazil. The equation for estimating was adjusted linear, without intercept (0.0), quadratic, cubic, power, exponential models. best equations those with highest determination coefficient (R²), Pearson's correlation (r), Willmott's index ( d ) CS (CS), lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC), mean absolute error (MAE), root square (RMSE), BIAS closest zero (BIAS). fitted using product length by width (LW) showed criteria area, thus fitting used. Therefore, ŷ = 1.4755*LW model most suitable (R² 0.9906; r 0.9860; 0.9929; 0.9790; AIC 1402.7; MAE 5.34; RMSE 7.90; 0.019).