A model of spectral evolution of star forming galaxies of various metallicity has been used to study the relation between the optical emission line ratio R_23_=([OII]{lambda}3727+[OIII]{lambda}{lambda}4959,5007)/H{beta} and the nebular oxygen abundance. It is shown that the scatter in an empirical comparison sample could be due to various upper stellar mass limits or different slopes of the stellar initial mass function in these objects.