Optimal waveband identification for estimation of leaf area index of paddy rice

The objectives of the study were to select suitable wavebands for rice leaf area index （LAI） estimation using the data acquired over a whole growing season, and to test the efficiency of the selected wavebands by comparing them with feature positions of rice canopy spectra. In this study, the field experiment in 2002 growing season was conducted at the experimental farm of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Measurements of hyperspectral reflectance （350-2500 nm） and corresponding LAI were made for a paddy rice canopy throughout the growing season. And three methods were employed to identify the optimal wavebands for paddy rice LAI estimation： correlation coefficient-based method, vegetation index-based method, and stepwise regression method. This research selected 15 wavebands in the region of 350-2500 nm, which appeared to be the optimal wavebands for the paddy rice LAI estimation. Of the selected wavebands, the most frequently occurring wavebands were centered around 554, 675, 723, and 1633 rim. They were followed by 444, 524, 576, 594, 804, 849, 974, 1074, 1219, 1510, and 2194 rim. Most of them made physical sense and had their counterparts in spectral known feature positions, which indicates the promising potential of the 15 selected wavebands for the retrieval of paddy rice LAI.

Detection of nitrogen-overfertilized rice plants with leaf positional difference in hyperspectral vegetation index

The main objective of this work was to compare the applicability of the single leaf(the uppermost leaf L1 and the third uppermost leaf L3) modified simple ratio(mSR705 index) and the leaf positional difference in the vegetation index between L1 and L3(mSR705L1-mSR705L3) in detecting nitrogen(N)-overfertilized rice plants.A field experiment consisting of three rice genotypes and five N fertilization levels(0,75,180,285,and 390 kg N/ha) was conducted at Xiaoshan,Hangzhou,Zhejiang Province,China in 2008.The hyperspectral reflectance(350-2500 nm) and the chlorophyll concentration(ChlC) of L1 and L3 were measured at different stages.The mSR705L1 and mSR705L3 indices appeared not to be highly sensitive to the N rates,especially when the N rate was high(above 180 kg N/ha).The mean mSR705L1-mSR705L3 across the genotypes increased significantly(P<0.05) or considerably from 180 to 285 kg N/ha treatment and from 285 to 390 kg N/ha treatment at all the stages.Also,use of the difference(mSR705L1-mSR705L3) greatly reduced the influence of the stages and genotypes in assessing the N status with re-flectance data.The results of this study show that the N-overfertilized rice plants can be effectively detected with the leaf positional difference in the mSR705 index.