11/16/2012

Evaluation of vegetation
indices (VI) for their sensitivity
to corn biomass and
chlorophyll content changes
associated with nitrogen
fertilization
M. S. Torino, B.V. Ortiz, J. Fulton, K. S. Balkcom, C. W. Wood

Low N High N

GPS
Dominant factors affecting Leaf Reflectance
Greenseeker-NDVI
45
Visible Near Infrared
40

35
Reflecatance %

30

25

20
Healthy
15

10 Unhealthy

Nozzle 5

0
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Wavelength (nm)

Vegetation Indices (VI) Side-dress

Vegetation Index (VI) Equation Unit
GS_NDVI (NIR-Red)/(NIR+Red)
CC_NDVI (NIR-Red)/(NIR+Red)
NDRE (NIR-RE)/(NIR+RE)
SR NIR/Red
SR (RE) NIR/Red edge
ISR (1-NDVI)/(1+NDVI)
ISR (NDRE) (1-NDRE)/(1+NDRE)
CSM Red/NIR
CSM (RE) RE/NIR
Cl(RE) (NIR/RE)-1
Datt (NIR-RE)/(NIR-Red)

1
 11/16/2012

Objective Methodology
TVS
Growing seasons: 2010 - 2012
Sites:
 EVS (E.V. Smith ), Shorter,
AL (Irrigated and Dryland)
EVS
 TVS (Tennessee Valley),
Belle Mina, AL (Irrigated)
Identify the best VI to assess differences
in biomass and chlorophyll content early  GCS (Gulf Coast) Fairhope,
AL (Dryland)
in the growing season GCS

Pre-plant N
• (0, 56, 112, 168, 224, 280 kg ha-1) Data Collection
• 5 replications
• Growth Stages V6, V8, V10
• Plant Status (ground truth)
SPAD LAI

Data Collection Vegetation Indices (VI)

• Remote Sensing
Vegetation Index (VI) Equation
GS_NDVI (NIR-Red)/(NIR+Red)
CC_NDVI (NIR-Red)/(NIR+Red)
NDRE (NIR-RE)/(NIR+RE)
Green Seeker (GS)
SR NIR/Red
Red= 656 SR (RE) NIR/Red edge
NIR= 774 Indices
ISR (1-NDVI)/(1+NDVI)
(CC)
ISR (NDRE) (1-NDRE)/(1+NDRE)
Crop Circle 470 CSM Red/NIR
(CC) CSM (RE) RE/NIR
Red= 670 Cl(RE) (NIR/RE)-1
NIR= 760 Datt (NIR-RE)/(NIR-Red)
RE= 730

2
 11/16/2012

Statistical Analysis Results

- Data standardized to zero mean and unit variance
Plant Status Canonical Variate (PSV)
Canonical Correlation Analysis “Intraset correlations”
 Measures the correlation between two variables (variates) resulting from the
linear combination of independent and dependent variables
Canonical Variate 1
GCS site
Plant Status (PSV) Variables 2010 2012
(SPAD and LAI) V6 V8 V10 V6 V8 V10

VS SPAD (Chl) 0.99 0.97 0.99 0.80 0.99 0.97

Canonical Variate 2
Vegetation Index LAI 0.08 0.73 0.46 0.84 0.74 0.74
(VIGS, VICC1, VICC2, VICC3, VICC4…. VICC10)

Correlation between VIs and PSV Correlation of VIs to PSV

Selection of best four correlations per growth stage
VIs GCS site 2010 GCS site 2012
V6 V8 V10 VIs
V6 V8 V10
GS_ NDVI 0.68 0.65 0.82 GS_ NDVI 0.70 0.84 0.88
NDRE 0.77 0.60 0.91 NDRE 0.72 0.77 0.92
CC_NDVI 0.71 0.63 0.26 NDVI 0.72 0.67 0.87
SR 0.70 0.61 0.70 SR 0.78 0.70 0.84
SR (RE) 0.77 0.59 0.91 SR (RE) 0.74 0.76 0.89
ISR -0.72 -0.63 -0.21 ISR -0.69 -0.60 -0.86
SR (NDRE) -0.78 -0.61 -0.90 SR (NDRE) 0.71 -0.76 0.92
CSM -0.72 -0.63 -0.69 CSM -0.69 -0.60 -0.86
CSM (RE) -0.78 -0.61 -0.90
CSM (RE) -0.71 -0.76 -0.92
CI (RE) CI (RE) 0.74 0.76 0.89
0.77 0.59 0.91
Datt Datt 0.53 0.05 0.93
0.85 0.57 0.88

Identification of the best VIs Identification of the best VIs

Year (3) x location (4) Year (3) x location (4)
VIs 5 7 6 VIs 5 7 6
V6 V8 V10 V6 V8 V10
GS_ NDVI 1 3 0 GS_ NDVI 1 3 0
NDRE 4 5 6 NDRE 4 5 6
CC_NDVI 0 2 0 NDVI 0 2 0
SR 1 1 0 SR 1 1 0
SR (RE) 3 3 5 SR (RE) 3 3 5
ISR 1 2 0 ISR 1 2 0
SR (NDRE) 2 4 4 SR (NDRE) 2 4 4
CSM 1 2 0 CSM 1 2 0
CSM (RE) 3 3 5 CSM (RE) 3 3 5
CI (RE) 4 3 4
CI (RE) 4 3 4
Datt 2 2 2
Datt 2 2 2

3
 11/16/2012

Identification of the best VIs RED vs Red-edge

Year (3) x location (4) Year (3) x location (4)
VIs 5 7 6 VIs 5 7 6
V6 V8 V10 V6 V8 V10
GS_ NDVI 1 3 0
GS_ NDVI 1 3 0
NDRE 4 5 6
NDRE 4 5 6
NDVI 0 2 0 NDVI 0 2 0
SR 1 1 0 SR 1 1 0
SR (RE) 3 3 5 SR (RE) 3 3 5
ISR 1 2 0 ISR 1 2 0
SR (NDRE) 2 4 4 SR (NDRE) 2 4 4
CSM 1 2 0 CSM 1 2 0
CSM (RE) 3 3 5 CSM (RE) 3 3 5
CI (RE) 4 3 4 CI (RE) 4 3 4
Datt 2 2 2 Datt 2 2 2

NDVI vs NDRE (V6) 14

Conclusions
12  Chlorophyll content (SPAD) is the main factor
10
influencing the variability in remote sensors readings.
GCS-2010 8
t ha-1

6
4
R² = 0.5543
2
 Indices containing the Red-edge band are more
0 sensitive to chlorophyll content and biomass at early
0.150 0.200 0.250 0.300 0.350
14 NDVI corn growth stages (V6).
12
10
 The replacement of the Red band by the Red-edge in
t ha-1

8
6
4 R² = 0.6831 the same VI-equation improves the relationship
2
0
between midseason readings
0.03 0.05 0.07 0.09 0.11 and final corn yield.
NDRE

Miguel Torino

Questions? mst0010@tigermail.auburn.edu
334-744-0226

Brenda Ortiz
bortiz@auburn.edu
334-844-5534