Characterization of red-near infrared transition for wheat and chickpea using 3 nm bandwidth data Original Research Article

Enhancement of space based capabilities to discriminate different crops and different varieties of a particular crop needs measurement of (i) the shift in red edge and (ii) the slope of the sudden rise of reflectance in 680 – 760 nm spectral region as a function of Days After Sowing (DAS). To develop the knowledge base for catering to the analysis of future space-based hyperspectral measurements, ground based measurements in 3 nm bandwidth in visible - near Infrared region together with corresponding Leaf Area Index (LAI) observations were taken over the Crop Growth Cycle (CGC) of Wheat and Chickpea. The red edge for wheat crop was at 679 nm for 25 DAS and reached the upper limit i.e., 693.7 nm at 84 DAS and thereafter shifted backward to 679 nm at 108 DAS. There was no change in red edge value of 684.9 nm during 40 to 49 DAS and of 687.8 nm during 55 to 71 DAS. The slope of Red to NIR transition for wheat varied from 0.457 to peak value of 0.784 during 25 to 71 DAS and thereafter decreased to 0.073 at 108 DAS. The peak of Red to Near Infrared (NIR) transition slope and Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI) occurred at the same time i.e., 71 DAS. However, the upper most value of red edge shift occurred at 84 DAS. Paper discusses the above aspects including role of mid point of Red to NIR transition, interrelationships among the Red-NIR transition Slope, Red Edge, LAI and RVI for wheat and chickpea.