A lower bound for the irredundance number of trees

Let ir(G) and γ(G) be the irredundance number and domination number of a graph G, respectively. The number of vertices and leaves of a graph G are denoted by n(G) and n₁(G). If T is a tree, then Lemańska [4] presented in 2004 the sharp lower bound γ(T) ≥ (n(T) + 2 - n₁(T))/3. In this paper we prove ir(T) ≥ (n(T) + 2 - n₁(T))/3. for an arbitrary tree T. Since γ(T) ≥ ir(T) is always valid, this inequality is an extension and improvement of Lemańska's result.