Estimating Arundo donax shoot biomass

We developed an equation for estimating Arundo donax shoot dry weight from shoot length. The equation, shoot dry weight (g) = 14.254 (standard error = ±0.275) × shoot height2 (m), was as effective at explaining a high proportion of total variation in shoot dry weight (R2 = 0.90) as more complicated equations containing additional morphometric parameters. Tested against two independent datasets, the equation provided accurate estimates of dry weight for shoots ranging from 0.3 to 7.06 m height (dataset 1, P < 0.0001, R2 = 0.87, N = 29; dataset 2, P < 0.0001, R2 = 0.82, N = 192). The equation provides aboveground biomass estimates from stem counts and heights more rapidly than harvest methods.