XVI International Botanical Congess

Conventional methods of plant pigment analysis not only require laboratory facilities but necessitate destruction of the plant sample. We have developed alternative non-destructive methods for pigment determination. The first uses a flat-bed scanner to capture leaf images, and a program which averages colour values over a selected area. We show that the system can determine chlorophyll content with an accuracy equalling that of hand-held chlorophyll meters. While a scanner delivers colour information as red, green, blue values, hyperspectral imaging provides data at all visible wavelengths simultaneously. Using this method we can sensitively monitor changes in pigment composition during senescence. We describe the multivariate analysis used to identify significant spectral components diagnostic of specific plant pigments.