<title>Infrared thermography: a tool to map temperature anomalies of plants in a greenhouse heated by gas fired infrared heaters</title>

Abstract

A successful production of plants in a greenhouse requires a microclimate adapted to the needs of each specific type of plant produced. Ambient temperature and humidity are two important parameters. This paper describes preliminary results from a field study using infrared thermography to map the temperature distribution pattern of tables for plant production, gas heated infrared radiation tubes, and of plants at different stages of growth. Comparative studies are performed for one gas-IR heated greenhouse and one reference greenhouse with a conventional water based heating system. Preliminary results indicate that infrared thermography is an efficient way to detect temperature anomalies of the heating systems and of the heat distribution systems of a greenhouse. Thermography could also be used as a tool when calibrating and evaluating the function of greenhouse heating systems, and to indicate anomalies in the growth process of the plants.

Emerging thermal imaging techniques for seed quality evaluation: Principles and applications

“…Infrared thermal imaging can be applied to detect the viability of seeds and seedlings, sense all possible physical damage and physiological disorders and monitor the growth process of seeds, seedlings and plants inside the nurseries and greenhouses. These capabilities came from the fact that there is a significant relationship between seedling temperature and the degree of damage (Hellebrand et al, 2002;Ljungberg & Joensson, 2002) where the warmest seedlings had a lower survival rate than the cooler seedlings (Egnell & Örlander, 1993). Therefore, thermal imaging was used to detect thermal signal decay characteristics that depend on seed aging conditions and seed viability (Kim et al, 2014).…”

Applications of Thermal Imaging in Agriculture—A Review

“…Thermal profile of seeds can be used to detect subtle changes in temperature, these changes vary with viability [30], and this enables the classification and separation of viable seeds from non-viable ones [34]. According to [11] and [35] significant positive correlations were found between seedling temperature and degree of damage where the coolest seedling had higher survival rate than the warmest seedling therefore thermal signal decay characteristics can depend on the seed aging conditions or seed viability, which are significantly associated with changes in the seed membrane permeability [32] thus IR thermography can be applied to detect seed and seedlings viability, physical damage, physiological disorders and evaluation of the growth process of seeds, seedlings and plants inside the nurseries and greenhouses…”

Application of Thermal Imaging in Agriculture and Forestry

“…We conclude that hyperspectral imaging combined with texture analysis can be implemented for fast classification of different varieties of maize seeds." Ishimwe et al (2014) indicated that, according to Hellebrand et al (2002) and Ljungberg & Jonsson (2002), significant positive correlations were found between seedling temperature and damage degree. Thus, IR thermography can be used to detect seed and seedling viability, physical damage, physiological disorders, and to evaluate seed growth processes and plants grown in nurseries and greenhouses.…”