In situ hyperspectral data analysis for pigment content estimation of rice leaves

Analyses of the correlation between hyperspectral reflectance and pigment content including chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b and carotenoid of leaves in different sites of rice were reported in this paper. The hyperspectral reflectance of late rice during the whole growing season was measured using a Spectroradiometer with spectral range of 350-1050 nm and resolution of 3 nm. The chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b and carotenoid contents in rice leaves in rice fields to which different levels of nitrogen were applied were measured. The chlorophyll-a content of upper leaves was well correlated with the spectral variables. However, the correlation between both chlorophyll-b and caroteniod and the spectral variables was far from that of chlorophyll-a. The potential of hyperspectral reflectance measurement for estimating chlorophyll-a of upper leaves was evaluated using univariate correlation and multivariate regression analysis methods with different types of predictors. This study showed that the most suitable estimated model of chlorophyll-a of upper leaves was obtained by using some hyperspectral variables such as SD(r), SD(b) and their integration.