Estimación del area de las hojas en plantas de trigo bajo diferentes tipos de estrés abiótico

in wheat, leaf area (la) can be estimated as the product between length, maximum blade width (lxw) and a proportionality coefficient bm. however, it is unknown whether this coefficient is the same in stressed and non stressed plants. in order to study this, two experiments in which drought, shading and n and p deficiencies were applied to wheat plants were performed. the bm coefficient was calculated by linear regression between la and lxw. the coefficient was similar in control plants as compared to those suffering wilting or n or p-deficiency, but different in shaded plants. the greater bm in shaded plants was due to an increased proportion of the central section of the blade, defined by its rectangular form. validation of the possibility of using bm of the control to estimate la in stressed plants was performed by linear regression between measured and calculated la. it is concluded that the same bm coefficient can be safely used to calculate la from lxw in non-stressed plants and in those suffering drought or n or p-deficiency. the use of the same coefficient value in shaded plants produced an underestimation of la, which was more pronounced as shading increases.