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Using handheld chlorophyll meters to monitor leaf senescence
11/12/2014 12:22:01 PM
Professor Richard Primack's Lab at Boston University
Posted by Amanda Gallinat, Laura Garrison, and Richard Primack
The most widely used chlorophyll meter on the market, the Minolta SPAD-502 costs about $2600.00.
In constrast, the atLEAF is a relatively new chlorophyll meter which can be purchased for one tenth of
the cost. Last autumn, the Primack Lab from Boston University and Laura Garrison from Brown University
teamed up to compare the performance of the SPAD-502, the atLEAF, and our own subjective color categorization
on leaves at various stages of senescence from the Viburnum and maple collections at the Arnold Arboretum.
We found that the relative chlorophyll readings from the SPAD-502 and atLEAF meters were highly correlated
both to one another and to chlorophyll content determined with spectrophotometry. We also found that the
relative chlorophyll values from each meter supported our subjective color categorization, with the exception
of red leaves which were often difficult to predict.
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