Proximal Near-Infrared Spectral Reflectance Characterisation of Weeds Species in New Zealand Pasture

Abstract

Recent extensive study was performed on Jacobaea vulgaris that characterized the plant leaves using hyperspectral reflectance against the successional stage of vegetation. It reported a high similarity of the leaf spectral reflectance measurement over the plant’s different stages of growth. This paper extends the earlier study by characterizing the proximal spectral reflectance measurements of three species of common New Zealand pasture weeds: (a) Jacobaea Vulgaris; (b) Rubus; and (c) Ulex growing in three different common soil pastures, specifically: (i) Typic Orthic Gley; (ii) Typic Orthic Granular; (iii) Typic Orthic Brown. The research goes on to determine the inter- and intra-species proximal spectral reflectance variation of the studied common weeds. Finally, it examines the suitability and extent of accuracy of different statistical analysis methods when applied on proximal spectral reflectance measurement to identify the three common species of weeds growing on New Zealand pastures.