An investigation into the use of a low-Cost NIR integrated circuit spectrometer to measure chlorophyll content index

Abstract

Crop yield is directly affected by the plant macronutrients, mainly Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) status. Growers must determine when to apply N fertilizer as the nitrogen deficiency leads to lower yield and economic lost. Chlorophyll meter has been used for years to find the correlation between the leaf chlorophyll content and the plant nitrogen status, hence the demand of N in the field during growing cycle. In general, chlorophyll meters are expensive even these handheld devices are built for ease of use. This work investigates the feasibility of the development of a very simple sensor device which uses extremely low-cost, off-the-shelf optical components to measure chlorophyll content in the leaf. The heart of the device is the AS7263 6-Channel Near-Infrared Spectral ID device made by AMS. The sensor prototype was built and tested. Preliminary results show a promising device which is very low cost, simple, low maintenance, and easy to use in the field to support rice growers to measure and monitor CCI and determine the need for nitrogen in the growing cycle.