ISSN 2360-7971
Abstract
Accepted 21st May, 2014
Research on assessing flue cured tobacco canopy response to cultural management using remote sensing was done using the multispectral radiometer (MSR 5) derived NDVI. MODIS satellite platforms provide adequate spatial resolution for large scale crop assessments but have a low spectral resolution and are susceptible to atmospheric interference. This experiment sought to develop estimation models for flue cured tobacco agronomic parameters based on established relationships with MSR 5 and MODIS derived NDVI and field measured agronomic parameters. MSR 5 and MODIS reflectance readings were collected weekly from six tobacco fields, between 1 and 12 weeks after planting. Satellite data was ordered from the USGS Glovis Website using the Earth Explorer interface to identify the experimental fields. The linear models for estimating biophysical parameters like leaf length, leaf width, plant height, leaf number and geometric mean leaf area were developed. Using a simple function relating MSR 5 and MODIS derived NDVI, and by substitution of NDVIMSR with the NDVIMOD, the estimation models for the tobacco biophysical plant parameters were also derived. The results from the study can improve the accuracy of tobacco crop monitoring and vigor assessment on a large scale.
Keywords: multispectral radiometer, satellite platforms, spatial resolution, biophysical parameters, crop monitoring