The relationship of plant secondary chemistry, water content, and nutrient content to the palatability of leaves to the leafcutting ant Atta cephalotes was determined in a study of individuals from 50 woody plant species in tropical dry forest of Costa Rica. The study took place during the yearly period of maximum leaf harvest, in the early rainy season. The palatability of plants was determine...

Visible/near-infrared (Vis/NIR) hyperspectral imaging was employed to determine the spatial distribution of total nitrogen in pepper plant. Hyperspectral images of samples (leaves, stems, and roots of pepper plants) were acquired and their total nitrogen contents (TNCs) were measured using Dumas combustion method. Mean spectra of all samples were extracted from regions of interest (ROIs) in hyp...

Within the last years a lot of effort has been made to improve irrigation efficiency and early drought stress detection by using various remote sensing techniques. In the present study two different species of wheat (Triticum aestivum and Triticum durum), cultivated in a growth chamber, were used to investigate the effects of drought occurring at different phenological stages. Plant physiologic...

• Plant light interception efficiency is a crucial determinant of carbon uptake by individual plants and by vegetation. Our aim was to identify whole-plant variables that summarize complex crown architecture, which can be used to predict light interception efficiency. • We gathered the largest database of digitized plants to date (1831 plants of 124 species), and estimated a measure of light in...

Plants initiate leaf senescence to relocate nutrients and energy from aging leaves to developing tissues or storage organs for growth, reproduction, and defense. Leaf senescence, the final stage of leaf development, is regulated by various environmental stresses, developmental cues, and endogenous hormone signals. Jasmonate (JA), a lipid-derived phytohormone essential for plant defense and plan...

Leaf wetting is often considered to have negative effects on plant function, such that wet environments may select for leaves with certain leaf surface, morphological, and architectural traits that reduce leaf wettability. However, there is growing recognition that leaf wetting can have positive effects. We measured variation in two traits, leaf drip tips and leaf water repellency, in a series ...

An exponential decay function was fitted with literature data to describe the decrease in corn leaf expansion rate as predawn leaf water potential decreases. The fitted functionwas then applied tomodify an existing leaf area simulation module in a soil–plant–atmosphere continuum corn simulation model (MaizSim) in order to simulate leaf area of corn plants at different water status. Data were co...

In India, agriculture is the main driver of economic growth. Farmers choose best crops for each season based on soil fertility, weather, and crop economics. Agricultural industries strive better ways to produce food in order meet demands an expanding population. New technologies that would increase yields while lowering investment are being sought after by researchers. A new technology called p...

The innumerable shapes of plant leaves present a challenge to the explanatory power of biophysical theory. A model is needed that can produce these shapes with a small set of parameters. This paper presents a simple model of leaf shape based on a growth algorithm, which governs the growth rate of leaf tissue in two dimensions and hence the outline of the leaf. The growth of leaf lobes is govern...

This experiment was conducted with the objective of evaluating the performance sage (Salvia officinalis L.) in different agroecology of Ethiopia for morpho-agronomic and chemical traits at Wondo genet, Hawassa, Qoqa and Holleta for two years from 2011/2012 to 2012/2013 cropping seasons. Data on plant height, branch number/plant, fresh leaf weight/plant, fresh stem weight/plant, above ground bio...