Predicting growth and development of pigeonpea: leaf area development

Abstract

Relationships are developed that describe the processes of node production, leaf appearance and senescence, and leaf size in pigeonpea in relation to temperature, plant density and maturity type. The rate of node production until flowering in relation to thermal time was found to be unaffected by season and plant density in the range of 4–33 plants m−2. Maturity type did not affect the rate of node production on the main stem or the rate of appearance of leaves on the plant. The rate of senescence of main-stem nodes in relation to thermal time was unaffected by plant density and growth duration. The functions developed in this paper can be used to predict the temporal changes in leaf area development in crop growth models.