Rape nitrogen nutrition diagnosis using continuum-removed hyperspectral reflectance

Abstract

The hyperspectral reflectance for rape fresh leaves and data of chlorophyll and total nitrogen content were acquired in primary growth stages under different nitrogen levels in order to monitor rape status and diagnose nitrogen using remote sensing method. A new method was developed for estimating the nitrogen nutrition of rape using continuum-removed method, which generally used in spectral analysis on rock and mineral. Based on the continuum-removed treatment and the correlation between absorption feature parameters and total nitrogen content of fresh leaves, results show that reflectance at the visible region decreased with increasing in the nitrogen fertilization, and continuum-removed operation can magnify the subtle difference in spectral absorption characteristics arose from the nitrogen stress on rape. During the seeding stage, bud-emerging stage and flowering stage of rape, total area of absorption peak, area left of the absorption peak and area right of the absorption peak in 550-750 nm region increased with increasing in the nitrogen fertilization, but it was opposite for the area-normalized maximal absorption depth. The correlation analysis indicated that it is at seeding stage that the relation between absorption characteristics parameters and leaf total nitrogen was best close. The research demonstrated that continuum-removed method is a feasible method for quantificational evaluation of rape nitrogen nutrition, and the seeding stage of rape is the best stage for assessment of rape nitrogen nutrition based on absorption characteristics of fresh leaves.