Cotton Nitrogen Nutrition Diagnosis Based on Spectrum and Texture Feature of Images from Low Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

【Objective】 Based on the high spatial resolution images of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the effects of removing soil background information and increasing image texture information on the inversion of cotton plant nitrogen concentration were investigated, in order to provide new technology for accurate estimation of cotton nitrogen nutrition status. 【Method】 Cotton water and nitrogen coupling experiment was conducted, and UAV images and plant nitrogen concentration data were measured during different cotton growth stages. Based on the above data, the effect of soil background on cotton canopy spectrum was firstly investigated. Secondly, the correlations between image texture parameters and plant nitrogen concentration were analyzed. Finally, the obtained data was divided into calibration dataset and validation dataset. Different scenarios, including before and after removing the soil background, and adding texture features, were set. The inversion models of plant nitrogen concentration under various scenarios were designed by using the coupled method of spectral indexes and principal component regression, and the performances of the models were compared. 【Result】 The soil background had an effect on the cotton canopy spectrum, and the trends were not the same at different growth stages. There existed significant correlations between image texture parameters and plant nitrogen concentration. For the scenarios before removal soil background, the plant nitrogen concentration prediction model had determination coefficient (R ²) value of 0.33 and root mean square error (RMSE) value of 0.21% during model calibration, and R ² value of 0.19 and RMSE value of 0.23% during validation. For the scenarios after removing soil background, the plant nitrogen concentration prediction model had R ² value of 0.38 and RMSE value of 0.20% during model calibration, and R ² value of 0.30 and RMSE value of 0.21% during validation. For the scenarios adding image texture information, the plant nitrogen concentration prediction model had R ² value of 0.57 and RMSE value of 0.17% during model calibration, and R ² value of 0.42 and RMSE value of 0.19% during validation. 【Conclusion】 Based on high spatial resolution images of low-altitude UAVs, both removing soil background and adding image texture information could improve the inversion accuracy of cotton plant nitrogen concentration. Image texture could be considered as important information to support prediction of crop nitrogen nutrition status using UAV images.