Non-destructive determinations of chlorophyll concentration and specific leaf weight using chlorophyll meter during leaf ontogeny in selected fruit species

The chlorophyll meter (SPAD 502) was used to estimate leaf chlorophyll concentration and specific leaf weight of selected tropical fruit species. The objective of this study was to determine the relationships between SPAD readings and leaf chlorophyll concentration and specific leaf weight (SLW) during leaf ontogeny of selected fruit species. Significant correlations (p 0.001) were found for both relationships between SPAD values and dimethylsulfoxide-extracted leaf chlorophyll concentrations and specific leaf weight. Correlation coefficients for the linear regressions of these SPAD values against leaf chlorophyll concentrations were 0.93,0.93,0.9,0.93,0.88, and 0.71, for banana, carambola, dokong, durian, mangosteen and rambutan respectively. Correlation coefficients for the linear regressions of these SPAD values against SLW were 0.89,0.84, 0.63,0.79,0.72, and 0.78 for banana, carambola, dokong, durian, mangosteen and rambutan respectively. Regression equations for predicting chlorophyll concentrations and specific leaf weight non-destructively were developed for each species. The potential use of chlorophyll meter for leaf physiological indicator was also discussed.