Can wheat yield be assessed by early measurements of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index?

Abstract

An early prediction of crop biomass at maturity and yield is important in different circumstances. The use of spectral reflectance indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), has been proposed as a fast, nondestructive way of estimating crop growth capacity. In this study, we examined whether NDVI assessment relatively early in the crop cycle may be useful for predicting final biomass and yield in wheat. To that end, NDVI was measured and biomass quantified regularly from tillering to maturity for six different wheat genotypes grown under a contrasting range of N and water availabilities. In addition, final biomass and yield were measured at maturity. In line with expectations from the literature, we found that NDVI at milk-grain stage was well correlated to final yield and biomass. However, it was also observed that NDVI at the onset of stem elongation was also reasonably correlated to both attributes. Because crop growth in wheat from the end of tillering to anthesis is related to the determination of grain number and yield, we propose the use of NDVI at the onset of stem elongation as a complementary criterion for establishing the required late crop management (N fertilisation, irrigation) practices.

Mapping QTL for stay-green and agronomic traits in wheat under diverse water regimes

“…Previous studies reported that NDVI as a spectral reflectance index could predict biomass and grain yield (Marti et al 2007;Babar et al 2006a, b). In the present study, the NDVI at each stage under rain-fed conditions was higher than that under well-watered conditions.…”

“…This might be caused by faster development under rain-fed conditions compared to wellwatered conditions for winter wheat during S1-S3 due to higher soil temperature. To determine the relationship between stay-green and agronomic traits under the varying water regimes, NDVI was measured at post-wintering (S1), stem elongation (S2), and booting (S3) stages due to the ability of NDVI to predict grain yield (Marti et al 2007;Royo et al 2003;Ma et al 2001). Since a positive contribution of NDVI to the grain yield of wheat had been reported (Lopes et al 2014;Lopes and Reynolds 2012), the association between stay-green traits and TKW was investigated.…”

“…QTL mapping for trait responses to changing water regimes NDVI was previously only used as an integrated screening indicator to evaluate the performances of different materials under drought stress (Lopes et al 2014;Lopes and Reynolds 2012;Marti et al 2007). Studies in rice indicated that a combination of yieldrelated QTL could improve NDVI under drought stress (Henry et al 2015), suggesting that direct screening and genetic improvement of NDVI through marker-assisted selection could contribute to improvement in yield-related traits.…”

“…Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a widely used indicator of canopy greenness used as an indirect selection criterion for stay-green and higher grain yield under water stress conditions (Marti et al 2007;Babar et al 2006a, b). However, there are also contradictory reports regarding the relationship between NDVI measured at different growth stages and yield (Hazratkulova et al 2012).…”

Component of Variability for Protein Content and Yield Related Traits in Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) Population of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Em. Thell) in Normal and Late Sown Environments

“…The knowledge of heritability helps in predicting the behavior of the succeeding generation and making desirable selections. Morphological traits have been studied for determine a suitable selection criterion for wheat breeding (Marti et al, 2007). Therefore, there is enough scope to increase genetic gain in yield through suitable changes in harvest index, coupled to an increase in total biomass.…”