Open AccessERRORS ASSOCIATED WITH HERBAGE DISSECTION ANALYSES 2. Problems of species identification
Author(s) -
I.M. Ritchie,
C.C. Boswell,
A.M. Badland
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
proceedings of the new zealand grassland association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1179-4577
pISSN - 0369-3902
DOI - 10.33584/jnzg.1976.38.1451
Subject(s) - christian ministry , dissection (medical) , identification (biology) , agriculture , composition (language) , biology , agronomy , mathematics , ecology , anatomy , philosophy , linguistics , theology
HERBACE DISSECTION is the process in which samples of herbage cut from trials are separated by hand into component species. Heavy reliance is placed on herbage dissection as an analytical tool ,in New Zealand, and in the four botanical analysis laboratories in the Research Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries about 20 000 samples are analysed each year. In the laboratory a representative subsample is taken by a rigorous quartering procedure until approximately 400 pieces of herbage remain. Each leaf fragment is then identified to species level or groups of these as appropriate. The fractions are then dried and the composition calculated on a percentage dry weight basis. The accuracy of the analyses of these laboratories has been monitored by a system of interchanging herbage dissection samples between them. From this, the need to separate subsampling errors from problems of plant identification was, appreciated and some of this work is described here.