Roles of Physiological and Nonphysiological Information in Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Variations for Detecting Cotton Verticillium Wilt

Abstract

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has been a promising indicator of plants' physiological status, but its response to physiological changes under Verticillium Wilt (VW) stress of cotton plants is complicated by concurrent nonphysiological changes. The relative contributions of the above two components to SIF variations are unclear at different VW stress severities, hindering the accurate diagnose of VW levels. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the dynamic responses of SIF, physiological and non-physiological factors, and to evaluate the contributions of the two factors to SIF variations under different VW stress degrees of cotton. We continuously observed the diurnal variation of top-of-canopy reflectance and SIF on healthy and VW-infected cotton during the peak incidence period of VW disease. To accurately quantify the relative contribution of each component to SIF, we proposed a practical strategy to estimate unmeasurable parameter when using Lindeman, Merenda, and Gold (LMG) method. The results demonstrated the dominated role of physiological factors in SIF with an arch diurnal change pattern at early stages of VW development. As the VW severity increased, the contribution of physiological components declined, with the maximum contribution decreasing by 47.7%, and the diurnal pattern was disrupted, with the diurnal variation amplitude of the parameter Manuscript