Abstract
Nitrogen stress plays a critical role in corn yield reduction. Thermal remote sensing has many applications: as an assessment tool for urban heat island, as an ecological indicator of ecosystem development, and as a water-stress-detection tool. In this study, it was hypothesized that corn crops supplied with optimum or high rates of nitrogen would have lower surface temperatures compared to corn grown under nitrogen-stressed conditions. Two experiments were conducted in the greenhouse at the University of Guelph, Canada, from the period between 2015 and 2016, involving three rates of nitrogen (high, medium, and low rates) supplied to corn plants after seed emergence. Leaf and whorl temperatures were collected by using a high-resolution thermal camera, an infrared handheld point measurements gun, and a type T thermocouple, respectively. An approximate difference of 2 °C was observed in temperatures between plants receiving high and low rates of nitrogen. These results supported the hypothesis that nitrogen-stressed plants have higher temperatures compared to less stressed plants, at a 0.05 significance level. This study investigated the application of the exergy destruction principle through thermal remote sensing, to detect crop stress at early growth stages under greenhouse conditions, to increase the production and reduce the harmful environmental impact.
Highlights
Corn is one of the most important food crops and sources for biofuels grown worldwide [1–4]
The objective of this study was to investigate the use of crop canopy temperature to detect nitrogen stress in corn plants grown under greenhouse conditions, where leaf surface temperature was used as a proxy for canopy temperature
On 11 November 2015, the mean leaf temperatures, measured by using a thermal camera for corn receiving high, medium, and low rates of nitrogen, were 30.43 ± 1.0 ◦C, 30.82 ± 0.68 ◦C, and 32.19 ± 1.12 ◦C, respectively (Figure 6), where the error bars represent the variability in leaf temperature
Summary
Corn is one of the most important food crops and sources for biofuels grown worldwide [1–4]. An adequate supply of nitrogen is essential for successful corn production [5,6]. The occurrence of nitrogen stress results in significant changes in plant growth and development [7–9]. The amount of nitrogen required will vary with corresponding growth stage [10]. The ability to apply variable rates of nitrogen at the right growth stage is possible because of advancements in precision agriculture [11,12]. Applying nitrogen at the right time and location is very important in increasing the crop production while decreasing the input costs (e.g., herbicides, pesticides, and nutrients) and reducing the environmental losses, which include the depletion of soil nutrients and the contamination of drinking water
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