ABSTRACT
The total biomass produced by any crop is influenced directly by the amount of the total solar radiation that is intercepted by the canopy and the efficiency with which it is used by the leaves in photosynthesis. Light interception in turn is closely related to leaf area (LA) index (LAI), the ratio of total one-sided LA per unit ground surface area (Chen and Black, 1992). The development and maintenance of LAI depends directly on the number of plants per unit land area, the number of leaves produced per plant, the size of those leaves and their longevity. The total number of leaves produced by the plant, their longevity and photosynthetic capacity are varietal characteristics, but which are also profoundly influenced by physical environmental conditions and by pests and diseases (Ospina and Ceballos, 2012). In general, LAI increases with crop age and then declines towards the end of the crop cycle. However, this pattern varies widely (Cock, 2011).
