A Mobile and Multi-Strata Device for Rapid Measurement of Crop Light Interception
2003
Costa, C. | Sotocinal, S. | Balchin, D. | Dwyer, L.M. | Stewart, D.W. | Smith, D.L.
Measurement of crop canopy light interception data is labor intensive and time consuming, particularly when multi-strata light measurements are required. Different approaches have been used to measure canopy light interception in the field. The use of a manually operated light-bar or multiple light-bars mounted on stationary devices and connected to a datalogger is costly and relatively inflexible. Difficulties with these approaches have led us to develop a portable prototype system for multi-strata measurement of light interception. The ability of the devices to take accurate simultaneous multi-strata canopy light interception measurements was tested on field-grown corn plants produced under a range of N fertilization levels with: (1) hybrids exhibiting a wide range of canopy architectures, and (2) different planting patterns. The device allowed accurate and instantaneous measurement of crop canopy light interception at various depths, allowing calculation of percent light transmitted at various canopy strata. The prototype system could hold up to six 1-m long light-bars, thus simultaneously collecting data at six canopy levels. The prototype showed accurate measurements of light interception in as little as 25% of the time required for a single manually operated light-bar.
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