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  • Non-destructive Measurements of Biomass in Millet, Cowpea, Groundnut, Weeds and Grass Swards using Reflectance, and their Application for Growth Analysis

Experimental Agriculture

Table of Contents - 1995 - Volume 31, Issue 01  

Research Article

Non-destructive Measurements of Biomass in Millet, Cowpea, Groundnut, Weeds and Grass Swards using Reflectance, and their Application for Growth Analysis

A. Buerkerta1 p1, P. R. Lawrencea1 p2, J. H. Williamsa1 and H. Marschnera1 p1

a1 International Centre for Research in the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Sahelian Centre, BP 12404, Niamey, Niger

Summary

A simple hand-held reflectometer was used to estimate the shoot dry matter of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), weeds and grass swards non-destructively. While the instrument was able to predict shoot dry matter well for single, standing millet and cowpea plants and proved useful for a growth analysis of millet, its reliability was unsatisfactory for groundnut. For millet, the slope of two separate regressions between the difference of reflectance ratios and shoot dry matter, taken 10 days apart, was almost identical. This suggests a possible simplification in future crop growth models. The usefulness of the instrument for estimating dry matter in natural species mixtures such as weeds and grasses depended on the homogeneity of the mixture and the uniformity of their physiological state.

Medición de la biomasa utilizando la reflexión

(Accepted March 30 1994)

Correspondence:

p1 lnstitute of Plant Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany

p2 Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG, Scotland.