Spectral vegetation indices selected for quantifying Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia) feeding damage in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

The effects of insect infestation in agricultural crops are of major economic interest because of increased cost of pest control and reduced final yield. The Russian wheat aphid (RWA: Diuraphis noxia) feeding damage (RWAFD), referred to as “hot spots”, can be traced, indentified, and isolated from uninfested areas for site specific RWA control using remote sensing techniques. Our objectives were to (1) examine the use of spectral reflectance characteristics and changes in selected spectral vegetation indices to discern infested and uninfested wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by RWA and (2) quantify the relationship between spectral vegetation indices and RWAFD. The RWA infestations were investigated in irrigated, dryland, and greenhouse growing wheat and spectral reflectance was measured using a field radiometer with nine discrete spectral channels. Paired t test comparisons of percent reflectance made for RWA-infested and uninfested wheat yielded significant differences in the visible and near infrared parts of the spectrum. Values of selected indices were significantly reduced due to RWAFD compared to uninfested wheat. Simple linear regression analyses showed that there were robust relationships between RWAFD and spectral vegetation indices with coefficients of determination (r2) ranging from 0.62 to 0.90 for irrigated wheat, from 0.50 to 0.87 for dryland wheat, and from 0.84 to 0.87 for the greenhouse experiment. These results indicate that remotely sensed data have high potential to identify and separate “hot spots” from uninfested areas for site specific RWA control.