Method and apparatus for quantitative determination of turfgrass color

Abstract

The present invention discloses testing turfgrass samples in a spectrophotometer. The resulting color output is provided to a processor for determining the quantitative color scale. The resultant output of the processor might be a single number 1 through 9—depending on the relative “greenness” of the tested turfgrass. To determine the standardized number, the processor compares the received color output from the spectrophotometer to a first stored set of values. Additionally, the received color output can be compared to a second stored set of values to predictively determine if adjusting certain nutrients, water, fertilizer, etc. will result in beneficial or other desired results in the turf. The first and second stored set of values or data is empirically established. In addition, a sealed turfgrass sample as a check or calibration sample, in connection with the use of NIRS equipment to determine instrument performance. The daily use of sealed turfgrass check samples allows the operators to determine the instrument performance and monitor deterioration of the turfgrass check sample. The variability is then incorporated in the future calibration to improve the accuracy and the validity of the NIRS measurements.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.