Non-destructive clorophyll and other pigments measurement in lettuce

Non-destructive in Situ Measurement of Photosynthetic Pigment and Nutrient on Lettuce, by Concepcion et al. 

A recent study tested the efficacy of non-destructive, onsite phytopigment and nutrient concentration measurement as a replacement for chemical laboratory analysis in aquaponic lettuce. The study utilized UV-Vis spectrophotometry and FTIR spectroscopy in conjunction with computer vision and computational intelligence.

Hybrid decision tree and multigene symbolic regression were able to predict the concentrations of chlorophyll (a) and (b), β-carotene, anthocyanin, lutein, and vitamin C in lettuce with high accuracy of 80.9% to 85.5%.

An increase in β-carotene and anthocyanin acts as a sunscreen to protect the leaves from sun stress.

A higher chlorophyll (a) and (b) ratio under white light, shows that there is a reduced emphasis on photon energy absorbance.

Red-blue light increases chlorophyll b concentrations, while white light increases all other pigments and vitamin C.

More information

Non-destructive in Situ Measurement of Aquaponic Lettuce Leaf Photosynthetic Pigments and Nutrient Concentration Using Hybrid Genetic Programming
Ronnie S. Concepcion, Elmer P. Dadios & Joel Cuello
ProQuest 2021
https://www.proquest.com/openview/b275119110ed48752d6e978857d8e1d4/%201?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2027433

CI-710s, SpectraVue Leaf Spectrometer
https://cid-inc.com/plant-science-tools/leaf-spectroscopy/ci-710-miniature-leaf-spectrometer/