Definition of terms and computations

Economic yield (Ye) - refers to the final weight of marketable organs

harvested from a unit ground area. It is the economic yield in which
farmers are most interested. Economic yield is a general term that
pertains to, for example, grain yield in rice,

Biological yield (Yb) refers to total weight of plant matter produced by

a particular crop per unit ground area. Therefore in biological yield we
refer to the weight of whole plants which includes the stem leaves,
fruits, seeds and roots while in economic yield, we refer only in the
weight of particular plant organ that is marketable like grains or
kernels or seeds. Biological yield can be calculated as:
 Biological yield can be calculated as:

Yb = FruitDM or GrainDM + LeafDM + StemDM + RootDM

Where: DM refers to dry matter or dry weight unit per area.

RootDM is

often excluded in computing the biological yield.

Thus biological yield can be computed as:

Yb = FruitDM or GrainDM + LeafDM + StemDM

Biological yield = “total dry matter” (TDM).
Harvest Index (HI) refers to the ratio of economic yield to biological
yield. HI is computed as:

Economic Yield
HI = ----------------------------
Biological Yield

Grain Yield = Total Dry Mass x Harvest Index

Grain Yield = TDM x HI

Dry matter distribution to plant organs (% DM Distribution to leaf or
stem or roots) refers to ratio of organ DM to total dry matter multiplied
by 100. Dry matter distribution is computed as:

Organ DM
DM% = ---------------------------- x 100
Total dry matter
TDM, HI and pod yield of peanut in relation
to timing of irrigation

Timing irrigation
TDM Yield
(tons ha-1)
Vegetative Reproductive
stage stage (tons ha-1) HI

Irrigated Irrigated 9 0.3 2.7

Drought Irrigated 7 0.5 3.5

Irrigated Drought 8 0.2 1.6

•Crop Growth Rate (CGR) refers to the gain in weight of
a community of plants on a unit of land area per unit
time.
TDMt2 – TDMt1
CGR = ----------------------------- = g m-2 day-1
T2 – T1

Where: TDM – Total dry matter (g m-2)

T – Time (day)
•Distribution index (DI) refers to the ratio of organ growth rate to
crop growth rate. It is also termed as partitioning coefficient (P). It
indicates reproductive efficiency. It is an estimate of the proportion
of current dry matter allocated or partitioned to reproductive organ
of economic importance. Example of such plant organs are fruits,
grains or kernels. Hence the organ growth rate could be: fruit
growth rate, grain growth rate or tuber growth rate depending
which organ is marketed.
Organ DMt2 –Organ DMt1
Economic organ growth rate = -------------------------------
T2 – T1

Organ growth rate grain growth rate

DI = ------------------------- = ----------------------
Crop growth rate crop growth rate
LeafAreaMeasurement
 MEASUREMENT OF LEAF AREA

Values of multiplier constant (LA/LxB) and specific leaf area for different crop
species as basis for the estimate of leaf area and leaf area index for different crop
species

Multiplier constant Specific leaf area

(LA/LxB) (SLA)
Crop species (cm2 ) (cm2 g-1)

Paragrass 0.73 280.63

Guinea grass 0.78 157.75
Napier grass 0.64 227.37
Corn/Maize 0.76 258.73
Centrosema 0.73 263.38
Pole sitao 0.60 288.92
Rice 0.82 359.33
Alfalfa 0.84 164.26
Kangkong 0.73 259.46
Sweet potato 0.54 271.56
 Leaf area of a given leaf can be estimated based on the
equation below:

LAn = L x B x C

Where: LAn - is the estimated leaf area of a single leaf sample

L – is the measured linear length of a leaf
B – is the measured widest width (breadth) of a leaf
C- is the multiplier constant of a given plant species
To estimate the total leaf area per plant (LA/plant)

LA/plant = LA1 + LA2 + LA3 + ….+ LAn

For the same plant species, the value of multiplier

constant may vary depending on genotype or the
cultivar.

Cultivars may vary in leaf shape and that will affect the
multiplier constant for leaf area estimate.
Specific Leaf Area (SLA) refers to the ratio of leaf area per unit leaf
weight.

Leaf area of the sample

SLA = ------------------------------------ = cm2 g-1 or sq cm/gram
Leaf DM of the sample

Total Leaf Area is computed as...

TLA = Leaf DM x SLA

Leaf area Index (LAI) refers to total leaf area of the leaves (upper
surface only) relative to ground area occupied by the crop.

Total leaf area

LAI = -------------------------------
Ground area