Read the
magazine
story to find out more.
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![Zhao Duli and Patrick J. Starks use a hyperspectral spectroradiometer to measure light reflectance from forage. Link to photo information](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081005205424im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/sep05/d193-1i.jpg)
Research associate Zhao Duli (left) and soil
scientist Patrick J. Starks use a hyperspectral spectroradiometer to measure
light reflectance from a forage canopy. Click the image for more
information about it.
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Hand-Held Sensor to Gauge Nutrients in Livestock
Forage
By Luis Pons
September 8, 2005 Imagine a livestock producer
knowing, almost immediately, how much nutrition a calf is getting from the
grass it's grazing on--or even how much weight that calf will gain if it keeps
eating that same grass.
That may be possible one day, thanks to recent developments with spectral
reflectance technology at the Agricultural Research Service's (ARS)
Grazinglands
Research Laboratory in El Reno, Okla.
The lab recently established a cooperative research and development
agreement with two private firms based in Oklahoma for designing, manufacturing
and marketing a small, low-cost, hand-held optical remote sensor that can
calculate, store and display data on forage's nutrient quality.
Under the agreement, the instrument will be developed by Durant Design and
Development in Durant, and will be manufactured and marketed by
TerraVerde Technologies in
Stillwater.
According to ARS soil scientist
Patrick
Starks, the nutritional value of live, standing forages in pastures is
essential knowledge for livestock producers. It allows them to make informed
management decisions about stocking rates, beginning and ending dates for
grazing, and the need for supplements.
Previously, Starks and ARS collaborators including El Reno animal scientist
William
Phillips and
Samuel
Coleman at the
Subtropical
Agricultural Research Station in Brooksville, Fla., showed that spectral
reflectance data can almost immediately show quality of forage grasses. The
method's accuracy is comparable to much slower conventional lab analysis.
The El Reno research also led to an interesting side study in which ARS
animal scientist
Michael
Brown and Redlands Community
College undergraduate student Amina Phillips found that spectral technology
can help predict weight gains and growth of foraging animals.
Read
more about this research in the September 2005 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief in-house scientific research agency.