Remote sensing for crop water stress detection in greenhouses

Abstract

Irrigation management is considered as one of the most important cultivation techniques which can lead to production of high quality products through efficient use of water and nutrients. The temperature of the crop has been identified as a good indicator of plant water status and has been included in several crop water status related indices. During recent years, remote sensing methods have offered a promising alternative for crop temperature measurements. Furthermore, another advantage of remote sensing is that it can be easily implemented for evaluation of spatial distribution of the measured parameter. The aim of this work was to evaluate different thermal indices, such as the stress degree day, the temperature stress day and the crop water stress index, on their performance for plant water stress detection in greenhouses based on remote infrared thermograph measurements and on their potential use for irrigation scheduling.