Use of Digital Camera to Assess Nitrogen Status of Winter Wheat in the Northern China Plain

Abstract

The most widely used methods to assess the nitrogen (N) status of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are the determination of plant total N by combustion, the testing of nitrate in the leaf tissue and the use of SPAD readings. However, due to their labor requirements or high costs these methods can hardly be applied to the huge wheat growing areas of the Northern China Plain. This study therefore examined an alternative method to measure the N status of wheat by using a digital camera to record the visible green light reflected from the plant canopy. The experiment was conducted near Beijing in a multi-factorial field trial with three levels of N. The intensity of green light reflected from the wheat canopy was compared to the total N concentration, to the nitrate concentration of the basal stem, and to the SPAD readings of leaves. The results show significant inverse relationships between greenness intensity, canopy total N, and SPAD readings at booting and flowering. At booting, sap nitrate <2000 mg L⁻¹ was inversely related to greenness intensity and to sap nitrate concentration in the basal stem. At sap nitrate ˜2000 mg L⁻¹, the greenness intensity reached a plateau. At booting and flowering, significant inverse relationships between greenness intensity and shoot biomass were found. The results show the potential of the new method to assess the N status of winter wheat.

Keywords:

• Greenness intensity
• Nondestructive measurements
• Photography

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, P.R. China (Project number 6002011) and the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF, project number 0339712A).