Proximal hyperspectral sensing tools could complement and perhaps replace destructive traditional methods for accurate estimation and monitoring of various morpho-physiological plant indicators. In this study, we assessed the potential of thermal imaging (TI) criteria and spectral reflectance indices (SRIs) to monitor different vegetative growth traits (biomass fresh weight, biomass dry weight, and canopy water mass) and seed yield (SY) of soybean exposed to 100%, 75%, and 50% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc). These different plant traits were evaluated and related to TI criteria and SRIs at the beginning bloom (R1) and full seed (R6) growth stages. Results showed that all plant traits, TI criteria, and SRIs presented significant variations (p < 0.05) among irrigation regimes at both growth stages. The performance of TI criteria and SRIs for assessment of vegetative growth traits and SY fluctuated when relationships were analyzed for each irrigation regime or growth stage separately or when the data of both conditions were combined together. TI criteria and SRIs exhibited a moderate to strong relationship with vegetative growth traits when data from different irrigation regimes were pooled together at each growth stage or vice versa. The R6 and R1 growth stages are suitable for assessing SY under full (100% ETc) and severe (50% ETc) irrigation regimes, respectively, using SRIs. The overall results indicate that the usefulness of the TI and SRIs for assessment of growth, yield, and water status of soybean under arid conditions is limited to the growth stage, the irrigation level, and the combination between them.

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Monitoring and managing water quality parameters (WQPs) in water bodies (e.g., lakes) on a large scale using sampling-point techniques is tedious, laborious, and not highly representative. Hyperspectral and data-driven technology have provided a potentially valuable tool for the precise measurement of WQPs. Therefore, the objective of this work was to integrate WQPs, derived spectral reflectance indices (published spectral reflectance indices (PSRIs)), newly two-band spectral reflectance indices (NSRIs-2b) and newly three-band spectral indices (NSRIs-3b), and artificial neural networks (ANNs) for estimating WQPs in Lake Qaroun. Shipboard cruises were conducted to collect surface water samples at 16 different sites throughout Lake Qaroun throughout a two-year study (2018 and 2019). Different WQPs, such as total nitrogen (TN), ammonium (NH4+), orthophosphate (PO43−), and chemical oxygen demand (COD), were evaluated for aquatic use. The results showed that the highest determination coefficients were recorded with the NSRIs-3b, followed by the NSRIs-2b, and then followed by the PSRIs, which produced lower R2 with all tested WQPs. The majority of NSRIs-3bs demonstrated strong significant relationships with three WQPs (TN, NH4+, and PO43−) with (R2 = 0.70 to 0.77), and a moderate relationship with COD (R2 = 0.52 to 0.64). The SRIs integrated with ANNs would be an efficient tool for estimating the investigated four WQPs in both calibration and validation datasets with acceptable accuracy. For examples, the five features of the SRIs involved in this model are of great significance for predicting TN. Its outputs showed high R2 values of 0.92 and 0.84 for calibration and validation, respectively. The ANN-PO43−VI-17 was the highest accuracy model for predicting PO43− with R2 = 0.98 and 0.89 for calibration and validation, respectively. In conclusion, this research study demonstrated that NSRIs-3b, alongside a combined approach of ANNs models and SRIs, would be an effective tool for assessing WQPs of Lake Qaroun.

Precise and quick estimates of soil moisture content for the purpose of irrigation scheduling are fundamentally important. They can be accomplished through the continuous monitoring of moisture content in the root zone area, which can be accomplished through automatic soil moisture sensors. Commercial soil moisture sensors are still expensive to be used by famers, particularly in developing countries, such as Egypt. This research aimed to design and calibrate a locally manufactured low-cost soil moisture sensor attached to a smart monitoring unit operated by Solar Photo Voltaic Cells (SPVC). The designed sensor was evaluated on clay textured soils in both lab and controlled greenhouse environments. The calibration results demonstrated a strong correlation between sensor readings and soil volumetric water content (θV). Higher soil moisture content was associated with decreased sensor output voltage with an average determination coefficient (R2) of 0.967 and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.014. A sensor-to-sensor variability test was performed yielding a 0.045 coefficient of variation. The results obtained from the real conditions demonstrated that the monitoring system for real-time sensing of soil moisture and environmental conditions inside the greenhouse could be a robust, accurate, and cost-effective tool for irrigation management.

Monitoring strategic agricultural crops in terms of crop growth performance, by accurate cost-effective and quick tools is crucially important in site-specific management to avoid crop reductions. The availability of commercial high resolution satellite images with high resolution (spatial and spectral) as well as in situ spectra measurements can help decision takers to have deep insight on crop stress in a certain region. The research attempts to examine remote sensing dataset for forecasting wheat crop (Sakha 61) characteristics including the leaf area index (LAI), plant height (plant-h), above ground biomass (AGB) and Soil Plant Analysis Development (SPAD) value of wheat across non-stress, drought and salinity-induced stress in the Nile Delta region. In this context, the ability of in situ spectroradiometry measurements and QuickBird high resolution images was evaluated in our research. The efficiency of Random Forest (RF) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), mathematical models was assessed to estimate the four measured wheat characteristics based on vegetation spectral reflectance indices (V-SRIs) extracted from both approaches and their interactions. Field surveys were carried out to collect in situ spectroradiometry measurements concomitant with the acquisition of QuickBird imagery. The results demonstrated that several V-SRIs extracted from in situ spectroradiometry data and the QuickBird image correlated with the LAI, plant-h, AGB, and SPAD value of wheat crop across the study site. The determination coefficient (R2) values of the association between V-SRIs of in situ spectroradiometry data and various determined wheat characteristics varied from 0.26 to 0.85. The ANN-GSIs-3 was found to be the optimum predictive model, demonstrating a greater relationship between the advanced features and LAI. The three features of V-SRIs comprised in this model were strongly significant for the prediction of LAI. The attained results indicated high R2 values of 0.94 and 0.86 for the training and validation phases. The ANN-GSIs-3 model constructed for the determination of chlorophyll in the plant which had higher performance expectations (R2 = 0.96 and 0.92 for training and validation datasets, respectively). In conclusion, the results of our study revealed that high resolution remote sensing images such as QuickBird or similar imagery, and in situ spectroradiometry measurements have the feasibility of providing necessary crop monitoring data across non-stressed and stressed (drought and salinity) conditions when integrating V-SRIs with ANN and RF algorithms.