Assessment of the AquaCrop model for use in simulation of irrigated winter wheat canopy cover, biomass, and grain yield in the North China Plain.

Improving winter wheat water use efficiency in the North China Plain (NCP), China is essential in light of current irrigation water shortages. In this study, the AquaCrop model was used to calibrate, and validate winter wheat crop performance under various planting dates and irrigation application rates. All experiments were conducted at the Xiaotangshan experimental site in Beijing, China, during seasons of 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. This model was first calibrated using data from 2008/2009 and 2009/2010, and subsequently validated using data from 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. The results showed that the simulated canopy cover (CC), biomass yield (BY) and grain yield (GY) were consistent with the measured CC, BY and GY, with corresponding coefficients of determination (R(2)) of 0.93, 0.91 and 0.93, respectively. In addition, relationships between BY, GY and transpiration (T), (R(2) = 0.57 and 0.71, respectively) was observed. These results suggest that frequent irrigation with a small amount of water significantly improved BY and GY. Collectively, these results indicate that the AquaCrop model can be used in the evaluation of various winter wheat irrigation strategies. The AquaCrop model predicted winter wheat CC, BY and GY with acceptable accuracy. Therefore, we concluded that AquaCrop is a useful decision-making tool for use in efforts to optimize wheat winter planting dates, and irrigation strategies.

[New vegetation index fusing visible-infrared and shortwave infrared spectral feature for winter wheat LAI retrieval].

Considering the great relationships between shortwave infrared (SWIR) and leaf area index (LAI), innovative indices based on water vegetation indices and visible-infrared vegetation indices were presented. In the present work, PROSAIL model was used to study the saturation sensitivity of new vegetation indices to LAI. The estimate models about LAI of winter wheat were built on the basis of the experiment data in 2009 acting as train sample and their precisions were evaluated and tested on the basis of the experiment data in 2008. Ten visible-infrared vegetation indices and five water vegetation indices were used to construct new indices. The result showed that newly developed indices have significant relationships with LAI by numerical simulations and in-situ measurements. In particular, by implementing modified standardized LAI Determining Index (sLAIDI *), all new indices were neither sensitive to water variations nor affected by saturation at high LAI levels. The evaluation models could improve prediction accuracy and have well reliability for LAI retrieval. The result indicated that visible-infrared vegetation indices combined with water index have greater advantage for LAI estimation.

Estimation of wheat agronomic parameters using new spectral indices.

Crop agronomic parameters (leaf area index (LAI), nitrogen (N) uptake, total chlorophyll (Chl) content ) are very important for the prediction of crop growth. The objective of this experiment was to investigate whether the wheat LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content could be accurately predicted using spectral indices collected at different stages of wheat growth. Firstly, the product of the optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index and wheat biomass dry weight (OSAVI×BDW) were used to estimate LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content; secondly, BDW was replaced by spectral indices to establish new spectral indices (OSAVI×OSAVI, OSAVI×SIPI, OSAVI×CIred edge, OSAVI×CIgreen mode and OSAVI×EVI2); finally, we used the new spectral indices for estimating LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content. The results showed that the new spectral indices could be used to accurately estimate LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content. The highest R(2) and the lowest RMSEs were 0.711 and 0.78 (OSAVI×EVI2), 0.785 and 3.98 g/m(2) (OSAVI×CIred edge) and 0.846 and 0.65 g/m(2) (OSAVI×CIred edge) for LAI, nitrogen uptake and total Chl content, respectively. The new spectral indices performed better than the OSAVI alone, and the problems of a lack of sensitivity at earlier growth stages and saturation at later growth stages, which are typically associated with the OSAVI, were improved. The overall results indicated that this new spectral indices provided the best approximation for the estimation of agronomic indices for all growth stages of wheat.

[Monitoring the chlorophyll fluorescence parameter Fv/Fm in compact corn based on different hyperspectral vegetation indices].

In order to further assess the feasibility of monitoring the chlorophyll fluorescence parameter Fv/Fm in compact corn by hyperspectral remote sensing data, in the present study, hyperspectral vegetation indices from in-situ remote sensing measurements were utilized to monitor the chlorophyll fluorescence parameter Fv/Fm measured in the compact corn experiment. The relationships were analyzed between hyperspectral vegetation indices and Fv/Fm, and the monitoring models were established for Fv/Fm in the whole growth stages of compact corn. The results indicated that Fv/Fm was significantly correlated to the hyperspectral vegetation indices. Among them, structure-sensitive pigment index (SIPI) was the most sensitive remote sensing variable for monitoring Fv/Fm with correlation coefficient (r) of 0.88. The monitoring model of Fv/Fm was established on the base of SIPI, and the determination coefficients (r2) and the root mean square errors (RMSE) were 0.8126 and 0.082 respectively. The overall results suggest that hyperspectral vegetation indices can be potential indicators to monitor Fv/Fm during growth stages of compact corn.

[Estimated nitrogen nutrition index based on the hyperspectral for wheat of drip irrigation under mulch].

The accurate wheat management needs a reasonable nitrogen application, and it is one of the key measures for real-time and quantitatively monitoring of nitrogen status to gain the higher yield of wheat. In the present study, two field experiments were conducted with different nitrogen stress and wheat cultivars, the relationship was analyzed between spectral parameters and the partial factor productivity from applied N (PFPn), and the estimating model was established for PFP, in the growth stages of wheat. The result indicated that there was a highly significant correlation between the PFP, and GreenNDVI at jointing, the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.6404, the estimating model of PFPn was established, and the root mean square errors (RMSE) was 0.4597. The result indicated that the PFPn can be effectively estimated by using spectral parameters.

[Hyperspectral estimation of leaf water content for winter wheat based on grey relational analysis (GRA)].

The objective of the present study was to compare two methods for the precision of estimating leaf water content (LWC) in winter wheat by combining stepwise regression method and partial least squares (SRM-PLS) or PLS based on the relational degree of grey relational analysis (GRA) between water vegetation indexes (WVIs) and LWC. Firstly, data utilized to analyze the grey relationships between LWC and the selected typical WVIs were used to determine the sensitivity of different WVIs to LWC. Secondly, the two methods of estimating LWC in winter wheat were compared, one was to directly use PLS and the other was to combine SRM and PLS, and then the method with the highest determination coefficient (R2) and lowest root mean square error (RMSE) was selected to estimate LWC in winter wheat. The results showed that the relationships between the first five WVI and LWC were stable by using GRA, and then LWC was estimated by using PLS and SRM-PLS at the whole stages with the R2 and RMSEs being 0.605 and 0.575, 4.75% and 7.35%, respectively. The results indicated that the estimation accuracy of LWC could be improved by using GRA firstly and then by using PLS and SRM-PLS.