Automatic Determination of the Parameters of Electrical Signals and Functional Responses of Plants Using the Wavelet Transformation Method

Maxim Mudrilov,Maria Ladeynova,Vladimir Sukhov,Lyubov Katicheva,Irina Balalaeva,Vladimir Vodeneev

doi:10.3390/agriculture10010007

Maxim Mudrilov, Maria Ladeynova + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10010007

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Abstract

Smart agriculture management systems with real-time control of plant health and vegetation are recognized as one of the crucial technologies determining agriculture development, playing a fundamental role in reducing yield losses and improving product quality. The earliest plant responses to various adverse factors are propagating stress signals, including electrical ones, and the changes in physiological processes induced by them. Among the latter, photosynthesis is of particular interest due to its key role in the production process. Of practical importance, photosynthesis activity can be registered not only in contact mode but by remote sensing using optical methods. The aim of the present work was to develop the approach to automatic determination of the main parameters of electrical signals and changes in photosynthesis activity and transpiration using continuous wavelet transform (CWT). Applying CWT based on derivatives of the Gaussian function allows accurate determination of the parameters of electrical signals as well as induced physiological responses. Moreover, CWT was applied for spatio-temporal mapping of the photosynthesis response to stress factors in pea leaf. The offered approach allowed automatic identification of the response start time in every pixel and visualization of the change propagation front. The results indicate high potential of CWT for automatic assessment of plants stress, including monitoring of plant health in large-scale agricultural lands and automated fields.

Highlights

The productivity of agricultural plants is known to be directly dependent on environmental conditions
We demonstrated an applicability of Wavelet transform (WT) for an accurate automatic determining of amplitude and start time of both electrical signal and photosynthetic response as well as for spatio-temporal mapping of the photosynthetic activity
Variation potential induced by burn of the wheat leafpotential—was tip was registered technique distantly potential induced by burn of the wheat leaf tip was registered by microelectrode technique distantly from the local damage area (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

The productivity of agricultural plants is known to be directly dependent on environmental conditions. High adaptability of plants to abiotic and biotic factors leads to minimization of crop losses. The crucial role in plant adaptation to rapidly changing environmental factors such as temperature, illumination, etc., is played by distant signals and functional changes caused by them [4,5,6,7]. The existence of several types of signals in plants is assumed: chemical, hydraulic, and electrical [6]. The fastest propagating signals of plants are ones of a physical nature, such as electrical signals whose speed of propagation can reach more than 10 cm/s, whereas for chemical signals it is less than 0.2 cm/s. Besides the action potential which is universal for all living organisms, the plant-specific variation potential (VP) and system potential [6,8,9] can be distinguished

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