Estimation of Corn Canopy Chlorophyll Content Using Derivative Spectra in the O2–A Absorption Band

Xuehong Zhang,Dongmei Chen,Changwei Tan,Chao Wang,Guojie Wang,Lixin Shi,Xinhui Li,Fan Xu,Yang He

doi:10.3389/fpls.2019.01047

Abstract

Chlorophyll (Chl) is one of the most important classes of light-absorbing pigments in photosynthesis, and the proportion of Chl in leaves is closely related to vegetation nutrient status. Remote sensing-based estimation of Chl content holds great potential for evaluating crop growth status in agricultural management, precision farming and ecosystem monitoring. Recent studies have shown that steady-state fluorescence contributed up to 2% on the apparent reflectance in the 750-nm spectral region of plant and also provided additional evidence for fluorescence in-filling of the atmospheric oxygen absorption band at a central wavelength of 760 nm (O2–A band). In this study, an in situ hyperspectral remote sensing approach zwas employed to estimate corn Chl content at the canopy level by using chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) signals in the O2–A absorption band. Two new spectral indices, REArea760 (sum of first derivative reflectance between 755 and 763 nm) and REA760 (maximum of first derivative reflectance between 755 and 763 nm), derived from the first derivative spectra in the O2–A band, were proposed for estimating the corn canopy Chl content (CCC). They were compared with the performance of published indices measured at ground level, including the MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI), Optimized Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index 2 (OSAVI2), Modified Chlorophyll Absorption Ratio Index 2 (MCARI2), SR710, REArea (sum of first derivative reflectance between 680 and 780 nm), REA (maximum value of first derivative reflectance between 680 and 780 nm), and mND705. The results indicated that corn Chl content at the canopy level was better predicted by the new indices (with R2 = 0.835) than the published indices (with R2 ranging from 0.676 to 0.826). The two new indices ranked in the top four according to their summed ranks by integrating the ranks of RMSE and R2 of CCC linear regression models. ChlF originates only from chlorophyll in the photosynthetic apparatus and therefore is less sensitive to soil, wood, and dead biomass interference. Moreover, due to the fluorescence in-filling of the O2–A band and the amplified effect on spectrum signals by derivative operation, the spectral derivative indices in the O2–A band have great potential for estimating the CCC.

Highlights

Photosynthesis, a chemical reaction converting light energy to chemical energy in glucose, is the basis for sustaining all plants’ life on Earth (Nelson and Yocum, 2006; Ustin et al, 2009)
We have investigated the characteristics of derivative reflectance in the O2–A band for corn canopy
The wavelength of the inflection point in the O2–A absorption band was stable near 759 nm

Summary

Introduction

Photosynthesis, a chemical reaction converting light energy to chemical energy in glucose, is the basis for sustaining all plants’ life on Earth (Nelson and Yocum, 2006; Ustin et al, 2009). The strong absorption and weak penetrability to leaves near the peak absorption wavelength can result in the saturation of pigment absorption, which makes the reflectance spectra less sensitive to the Chl content at the wavelengths near the peak absorption band. The spectral regions at the green and red edge region, ranging from 680 to 780 nm, have a strong penetrating power to leaves, and the reflectance spectra are highly sensitive to Chl content (Miller et al, 1990; Carter, 1998; Gupta et al, 2003; Sampson et al, 2003; Ustin et al, 2009). The concentration of Chl within leaves can be estimated by measuring the absorption of light in the red and far red spectrum

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion