Uptake Adoption Natural Resource Management
Monitoring the adoption of improved crop management practices is crucial in the impact analysis of research and development and in guiding future research and technology delivery agenda. Tracking adoption of improved crop establishment and management practices is difficult to do using manual surveys that take up much labor, time, and resource. Remote sensing techniques can provide a lower-cost solution. However, very few studies have been conducted on adoption of crop management practices using remote sensing, and researchers have not achieved good accuracy (Chakraborty et al 1997). To improve remote sensing-based characterization for the identification of crop management practices, it is essential to (a) study the spectral response of crops to practices at various physiological stages (Nuarsa et al 2011), and (b) identify the wavelengths in the hyperspectral signatures that best distinguish among practices (Rao 2008). This pilot study will use a field spectroradiometer, a sensor that can assess the spectral response of crops across a huge range of electromagnetic spectrum, to monitor a range of management practices in a controlled field experiment for rice. This will allow us to assess whether crop establishment methods/management practices can be differentiated through hyperspectral analysis. Information on key discriminatory wavelengths derived from this study will then be applied to hyperspectral remote sensing imagery so that different types of crop management can be detected and, hence, adoption/diffusion can be monitored on a broad geographic scale with high accuracy and low cost. An example of the ability to discriminate among crop management practices in wheat is shown below (Chandna 2006). Each graph (Figure 1) shows the spectral signature of four different practices at four stages during the season. The figure shows clearly that zero-tillage wheat, along with various residue retention methods, can be identified and differentiated at the early stage of the crop (graph marked “Dec 22, 2005”) between 800–1100 nm wavelengths.
Authors: Dr. Parvesh Chandna, Dr. Andy Nelson
Spectral Evolution is a leading manufacturer of field-portable UV-Vis-NIR remote sensing spectroradiometers and spectrometers for applications including geological remote sensing, ground-truthing, spectral remote sensing, environmental and climate research, crop and soil research, vegetative studies, forestry and canopy studies, radiometric calibration transfer, upwelling and downwelling measurement and more. Our UV-Vis-NIR spectrometers and spectroradiometers provide the best combination of high resolution and high sensitivity resulting in the most precise field portable instruments available on the market.
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