Effects of Nitrogen Stress on Crop Surface Temperature and Leaf Thermal Emissivity: A Greenhouse Case Study

Crop stress is a serious problem that affects crop production worldwide. Nitrogen stress affects a plant's ability to grow and develop. Many methods have been used to detect nitrogen stress, however, these methods have many limitations including sensitivity to soil and sunlight variations. This study proposes the inverse relationship between crop surface temperature and crop stress under greenhouse conditions as predicted by the exergy destruction principle (EDP). It is hypothesized that stressed crops have higher surface temperatures compared to less stressed crops. In this study, the main objectives are to confirm the decrease in crop surface temperature with nitrogen rate increase under greenhouse conditions, and to investigate the effect of nitrogen stress on leaf thermal emissivity.