Identification of Water and Nitrogen Stress Indicative Spectral Bands Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing in Maize During Post-Monsoon Season

Realization of agricultural crop condition through field survey is quite expensive, time consuming and sometimes not practical for remote locations. Optical remote sensing techniques can provide information on real condition of the crops by observing spectral reflectance at different crop growth phases and is less expensive and less time consuming. Hyperspectral remote sensing provides a unique opportunity for non-destructive, timely and accurate estimation of crop biophysical and biochemical properties. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to identify the water and nitrogen stress indicative spectral bands using ground-based hyperspectral data and to assess the predictive capability of selective bands on yield of maize under water and nitrogen stress environment. The experiment comprised of three irrigation scheduling treatments based on IW/CPE ration of 0.6, 0.8 and 1.2 and three nitrogen level treatments, i.e., 100, 200 and 300 kg of N ha−1, respectively, with three replications in a split plot design. The spectral reflectance was measured before irrigation at tasseling and dough stage of the maize crop using portable field spectroradiometer. The results of stepwise multiple linear regression indicated the highest predicting capability of spectral bands 540 nm, 780 nm and 860 nm for leaf nitrogen and 700 nm, 740 nm and 860 nm for leaf water content. The derived biophysical parameters based on spectral reflectance viz. relative leaf water content (%), leaf area index and leaf nitrogen contentment (%) at tasseling stage of maize crop accounted for 80%, 61% and 66% variation in grain yield, respectively.