Abstract
On-site remote sensing technology associated with the use of digital camera is becoming a promising tool for precision agriculture such as for crop growth management and monitoring damage by insects and diseases. We developed a vegetation sensor using general-purposed digital camera. In this study, a paddy field in Oita Pref. was chosen as the study site. We have examined relations between the SPAD and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and between the protein content and NDVI for both maximum tiller number stage and dough-ripe stage. For the maximum tiller number stage, a positive correlation of the SPAD and NDVI was found (as R2=0.96). Similarly there was a positive correlation between the protein content and NDVI (as R2=0.88) in the dough-ripe stage. The study results proved the applicability of on-site remote sensing technology associated with the use of digital camera for the growth diagnosis and protein content estimation of paddy rice.
