Thursday, 10 November 2005 - 11:20 AM
314-11

Objective Evaluation of Turf Quailty.

Douglas Karcher and Michael Richardson. University of Arkansas, 308 PTSC, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701

Turf quality evaluations are typically accomplished with subjective visual ratings. Techniques have recently been developed using digital image analysis to objectively quantify the percent green cover, color, and texture of turf. The objective of this research was to compute an objective turf quality score using image analyses information on cover, color, and texture. A SigmaScan Pro macro was developed to concurrently analyze turf images for cover, color, and texture and compute an overall turf quality score based on user input of the maximum and minimum quality scores present when the images were collected. Macro quality scores were compared to visual quality ratings of experienced raters in variety trials of several turf species. Turf quality evaluations using digital image analysis were significantly correlated to visual quality ratings on several evaluation dates. Analyses of quality score correlation and variety mean separation between visual ratings and image analysis will be discussed.

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