Plant Chlorophyll Content Meter
A handheld plant stress detector measures the amount of chlorophyll in foliage, based upon light reflected from the plant. It collects light reflected from a target plant, separates it into two different wavelength bands (red and infrared), and analyzes the reflected light to determine plant physiological stress. It is used to learn how leaf chlorophyll content is affected by nutrients, biological influences, herbicides, and other environmental impacts.
Transcript
00:00:01 Just because a plant looks healthy doesn't always mean it is healthy. Much like people, plants can be sick even with no visible signs. Plants need check-ups, too, and most growers rely on their eyes to examine their crops. Often by the first visual signs, the plant is in trouble. But today there are diagnostic tools growers can use to check their crops. One of them is based on a NASA invention. From orbiting satellites, sensor instruments take measurements of vegetation around the world. From the processed data, scientists have a much better idea of growth patterns, algae blooms in the ocean, and other changes taking place on our planet. Researchers at NASA's Stennis Space Center developed a sensor technology that measures wavelengths of reflected light from plant surfaces. The measurement indicates how much chlorophyll the plant has. The Stennis Technology Transfer Office contacted several firms about their sensor invention, and one of them licensed it.
00:00:49 Sometimes with this type of technology, they're able to ingeniously imagine brand new uses and apply it in different ways that we never thought of. Spectrum Technologies, Incorporated was interested in finding a better way to look at plant health. We saw the opportunity to make it instead of subjective, make it objective with a meter and to use this reflectance meter that measures chlorophyll, or measures plant health, or actually plant stress, as a tool to help the industry in identifying how healthy turf grass is and to use it as potentially a nitrogen management tool. For its initial prototype device, Spectrum Technologies enhanced the original technology by making it hand-held with point and shoot capabilities. Now called the Field Scout, Spectrum's current device has many additional features, including an ambient light sensor. We made it an integral part of the unit, so as the meter was looking at the reflected light from the plants,
00:01:51 it was compensating for a bright sunny day or a partly cloudy day so that that actual measurement was more accurate. The other thing we incorporated was data-logging. The ability to capture and store that measurement and if we were connecting it to a GPS unit, we also now have the capability to geo-reference those measurements and to map out a golf course or map out a wheat field and look at the spatial variability of that greenness, that chlorophyll that the meter is sensing. Typically used by farmers and turf growers, the Field Scout CM 1000 is easy to use. While walking through a field, the grower points the device at a plant and takes a measurement. The reading indicates if a plant is in trouble about two weeks before any visual signs ever appear. If there are poor chlorophyll readings, the grower can then take steps to treat the problem right away and help the crops or turf be healthy again. Until their next check-up.