“…A generalized leaf area equation LA = α × L × W for maize plants was proposed by Montgomery, (1911), based on a rectangle area L × W (L -leaf length, W -leaf width) and on a weighing factor (α) equal to 0.75. However, several authors indicated that the weighting factor may vary depending on the maize variety (Bange et al, 2000;Carvalho and Christoffoleti, 2007;Tivet et al, 2001), plant development stage (Bange et al, 2000), environmental conditions and agronomic practices (Elings, 2000;Sezer et al, 2009). Therefore, application of this classic equation requires a measurement of length and width of all leaves on a plant, which is very labour and time consuming, and can be a source of errors.…”