Wheat Grain Quality Forecasting by Canopy Reflected Spectrum

Advanced site-specific determination of grain protein content by remote sensing can provide opportunities to optimize the strategies for purchasing and pricing grain, and to maximize the grain output by adjusting field inputs. Field experiments were performed to study the relationship between grain quality indicators and foliar nitrogen concentration. Foliar nitrogen concentration at the anthesis stage is suggested to be significantly correlated with grain protein content, while spectral vegetation index is significantly correlated to foliar nitrogen concentration around the anthesis stage. Based on the relationships among nitrogen reflectance index (NRI), foliar nitrogen concentration, and grain protein content, a statistical evaluation model of grain protein content was developed. NRI proved to be able to evaluate foliar nitrogen concentration with a coefficient of determination of R= 0.7302 in year 2002. The relationship between measured and remote sensing derived foliar nitrogen concentration had a coefficient of determination of R=0.7279 in year 2003. The results mentioned above indicate that the inversion of foliar nitrogen concentration and the evaluation of grain protein content by NRI are