Abstract: A corn plant is evaluated by a six-step method. The first step is to select a population of mature corn plants to be evaluated. A limited number of representative plants from the population are then selected. The representative plants are then harvested by cutting them near the ground. The plants are then ground into a homogeneous mixture. A sample of the homogeneous mixture is then analyzed in a near infrared spectrometer. The analysis is then compared with an existing correlation between near infrared analyses and wet-test chemistry tested nutritional compositional characteristics to predict the compositional characteristics of the corn plant population.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
August 21, 2001
Date of Patent:
January 18, 2005
Assignee:
Doebler's Hybrids, Inc.
Inventors:
William R. Camerer, III, Nicholi L. Bajjalieh, Thomas R. Boyd, James A. Breining, II