Is there a way to screen for iron levels (or other nutrients) APART FROM from taking plant tissue samples from each plant? I don't have the money to do that, but I am wondering if there are other non destructive ways to select for plants with high nutrient levels?
I am trying to improve the nutrition of lettuce.
By resources, do you mean money for analysis?
It sounds like you want to do in situ non-destructive testing so that you can keep the plants growing. In that case, you might consider a hand-held XRF, but that has technical limitations of high detection limits, calibration of results and fewer elements than traditional AAS or ICP (destructive) methods. Plus there would be a significant effect of water content influencing the apparent concentrations to contend with.
Yes, I don't have enough money, always the problem :(
Have you heard of others successfully using handheld XRFs for plant breeding uses? I searched it and there are a few papers with it, maybe it does work.
http://www.zinccrops2011.org/presentations/2011_zinccrops2011_paltridge.pdf
You might want to consider taking measurements with non-invasive instruments such as a leaf spectrometer or a photosynthesis system. You can take a wide range of measurements that indicate overall leaf health such as chemical concentrations, presence of certain chemical compounds and gas exchange. Using that information you can determine nutrient levels to select your plants.
Here are some instruments that you might find useful:
Miniature Leaf Spectrometer: http://www.cid-inc.com/products/spectroscopy/miniature-leaf-spectrometer
Handheld Photosynthesis System: http://www.cid-inc.com/products/photosynthesis/handheld-photosynthesis-system
And here are some papers using those instruments in studies dealing with varying nutrient levels:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423809004567
http://ajbasweb.com/old/ajbas/2015/February/362-367.pdf
Hopefully this helps you develop some ideas on how to proceed with your study.
Proximal sensing is the option ..but needs standardization to your crop ...its a possibility
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