FIELD EVALUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHLOROPHYLL CONTENT IN BASIL LEAVES AND A PORTABLE CHLOROPHYLL METER (SPAD-502) READINGS

Abstract

A hand-held SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter provides rapid and nondestructive measures of chlorophyll content. Integrating this meter into basil production can reduce costs and may improve basil quality. This study determined the relationship between SPAD-502 and the leaf chlorophyll (total, a, b). Over 500 leaf samples were collected from a field study conducted in 2006. Comparisons between chlorophyll contents and meter readings showed that SPAD meter readings were positively correlated to actual chlorophyll content. Regression analysis SPAD readings should be corrected by leaf area. Findings suggest that SPAD meter readings can be used as a tool to improve Basil quality and for assessing the relative chlorophyll content during the growing season.

Keywords:

• photosynthesis
• linear regression
• chlorophyll
• Ocimum basilicum
• SPAD-502

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Lidia Hirales and Carmen Mercado the technical assistance. This research was supported by grant ZA3 and ZA3.1 from CIBNOR, and grant 2429 from JICA and Tottori University (Japan).