POTENTIAL APPLICATION OF NOVEL HYPERSPECTRAL LIDAR FOR MONITORING CROPS NITROGEN STRESS

Abstract. Precision agriculture has always been the research hotspot around the world. And the optimization of nitrogen fertilization for crops is the core concerns. It is not only to improve the productivity of crops but also to avoid the environmental risks caused by over-fertilization. Therefore, accurate estimation of nitrogen status is crucial for determining an nitrogen recommendation. Remote sensing techniques have been widely used to monitor crops for years, and they could offer estimations for stress status diagnosis through obtaining vertical structure parameters and spectral reflectance properties of crops. As an active remote sensing technology, lidar is particularly attractive for 3-dimensional information at a high point density. It has unique edges in obtaining vertical structure parameters of crops. However, capability of spectral reflectance properties is what the current lidar technology lacks because of single wavelength detection. To solve this problem, the concept of novel hyperspectral lidar (HSL), which combines the advantages of hyperspectal reflectance with high 3-dimensional capability of lidar, was proposed in our study. The design of instrument was described in detail. A broadband laser pulse was emitted and reflectance spectrum with 32 channels could be detected. Furthermore, the experiment was carried out by the novel HSL system to testify the potential application for monitoring nitrogen stress. Rice under different levels of nitrogen fertilization in central China were selected as the object of study, and four levels of nitrogen fertilization (N1-N4) were divided. With the detection of novel lidar system, high precision structure parameters of crops could be provided. Meanwhile, spectral reflectance properties in 32 wavebands were also obtained. The high precision structure parameters could be used to evaluate the stress status of crops. And abundant spectral information in 32 wavebands could improve the capacity of lidar system significantly. The results demonstrate that it is more effective for HSL system to distinguish different levels of nitrogen fertilization. Overall, HSL allows for probing not only high precision structure parameters but also spectral reflectance properties of crops. Compared with other approaches, the novel HSL has the potential to provide more comprehensive information of crops which can be assessed remotely in the application of precision agriculture.