DETERMINATION OF PEACH LEAF-AREA INDEX BY RADIATION MEASUREMENTS

The leaf area index (LAI) of trees at any given time is an important parameter in light interception, photosynthetic productivity and ecophysiological studies. An indirect method based on photosynthetic irradiance measurements is here used to infer the LAI of a peach tree trained to flat palmette. Between the possible probability distributions, the negative binomial distribution appears the more suitable to represent the light penetration inside the canopy throughout the whole growing period, and the specific clumping coefficient of 16.2 is found.