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.

link