A Preliminary Study of Monitoring Kenaf (hibiscus Cannabinus L.) Growing Stages Using Multi-temporal Radarsat-2 Quad-pol Sar Images

Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.) is a source of raw material for fiber-based industries and paper production in Malaysia. Normally, matured kenaf can grow up to 4.3 meters in four months and produce yields from 12 tons fibers per hectare. Based on the current management practice, kenaf plant is cultivated by stages which resulting of multi-aged plots for the same growing area. Information of kenaf growing stages is essential for a well-planned harvesting and post-harvest activities. The aim of this study is to determine kenaf growing stages by using RADARSAT-2 multi-temporal and multi-polarized images. Four multi-temporal RADARSAT-2 C-band quad-polarized SAR images were acquired for a complete cycle of life span. Ground truthing were conducted during image acquisition to correlate between backscatter value and selected growing stages parameters i.e height and age of the crops. The result of regression analysis (r 2 ) of growing stages using multi-polarization HV, VH, HH and VV are 0.85, 0.68, 0.55 and 0.31, respectively. This study shows that HV is the best polarization that able to indicate kenaf growing stages.