New method of support in the field of maize leaf senescence

A new method was developed to describe and quantify leaf senescence in a field-grown maize canopy with the purpose of future crop modelling. Leaf shape was analysed using the outlines of over 500 adult leaves from plants grown under diverse culture conditions. Leaf width (lambda) taken at regular distances from the ligule (L) allowed the development of leaf-shape equations. These are third-degree polynomials. Thus, four leaf measurements are needed for characterizing leaf shape: maximum width (lambda m), total length (Lt), width at ligule level (lambda o), and distance from ligule to the point of maximum width (Lx). Assuming y = (lambda/lambda m) and x = (L/Lt), the shape equation can be written as y = (1 - x)(ax(2) + bx + y(o)). Coefficients a and b were estimated from (lambda o/lambda m) = y(o) and (Lx/Lt) = x(m). The leaf area between the ligule and any point on the midrib can be obtained by analytically integrating the leaf shape equation. In the present work, degreening was used as the indicator of senescence. Thus, once the shape equation was been defined, easily taken measurements of green colour allowed me to calculate the remaining green area by leaf. The vertical profile of the green area on the whole plant could then be described. The time course of green leaf area in a field-grown maize canopy was analysed from silking up to harvest. The farther the leaves were from the ear and the lower they were in the plant, the earlier they lost their green colour. The smallest leaves fully changed colour in 1 week, while this process took 2 weeks for the largest ones. A whole plant lost its green colour in about 5 weeks. Drought caused earlier but not faster leaf degreening. Low plant densities delayed discoloration of the leaves close to the ear, even under drought conditions. The start of senescence in leaves 7-16 was almost simultaneous in all crop conditions, but it could not be determined whether this was due to a threshold effect of the source/sink ratio or to another factor. This method was easy to set up for field studies with maize, but it could be also used for studies on other graminaceous species and some broad-leaved species. It could be extended to describe the physiological functioning over the leaf length and across the vertical profile of the whole plant.