Figure 2

Deriving leaf growth parameters from the fitted leaf length and LER curve using LEAF-E. The leaf length curve (S-shaped) is generated by fitting Equation 1 to measurements of a single leaf. Based upon the leaf length curve the final leaf length L _m can be calculated as well as the thermal time t needed to reach any given leaf length L, e.g. te is the thermal time needed to reach L _m . As a result, LEDs can be calculated between every desirable pair of thermal time points, e.g. LED(t1-t2). The first derivative of Equation 1 renders a bell-shaped LER curve from which maximal leaf elongation rate LERmax, occurring at the thermal time point tm, can be extracted.