Logistic model analysis of winter wheat growth on China's Loess Plateau

The leaf area index (LAI) and above-ground biomass are closely related to crop growth status and yields. Therefore, analysis of their variation and development of a mathematical model for their prediction can provide a theoretical basis for further research. This paper presents a new equation for logistic pattern that calculates above-ground biomass and LAI for different irrigation treatments independent of growing degree days (GDD) and plant height. The model root mean square of error (RMSE) for the LAI was from 0.25 to 1.36, and for above-ground biomass it was from 0.49 to 1.34. The r(2) values for the model's output under the single irrigation, double irrigation, triple irrigation, and quadruple irrigation treatments were 0.98, 0.87, 0.96, 0.98 and 0.99, respectively. For above-ground biomass they were 0.96, 0.97, 0.99, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively. The relative error for LAI ranged from 0.026 to 15.2%. For above-ground biomass, the Re ranged from 5.78 to 8.79%. The results gave good agreement between the estimated values and the measured values. The Logistic model was good at estimating the LAI and the above-ground biomass from the plant height.