Rapid Measurement of Cotton Leaf Area

Leaf area index (LAI) is one of the key indexes for estimating cotton growth, water use, and evapotranspiration. But the present measurement methods are either time consuming, or with less precision, or making destruction of the cotton. To solve these problems, two methods (Digital Photography Method and Rotating Surface Method) were presented in this paper which can make the measurement much more efficient. Digital Photography Method is an improved destructive method to measure cotton leaf area. This method does not need to sketch the outline of the cotton leaf so as to make the measurement more efficient. Rotating Surface Method is a new nondestructive method; the basic them., of this method is that the shape formed by cotton leaves of one plant is similar to the rotating surface. This method can measure the total leaf area of one cotton plant at a time, but it is only suitable for the early growth stages. Both of the methods are verified with experimental data in satisfactory results.