The Use of Diagnostic Optical Tools to Assess Nitrogen Status and to Guide Fertilization of Vegetables

Giorgio Gianquinto, Francesco Orsini, Paolo Sambo, Matilde Paino D'Urzo

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    22 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Dynamic fertilization management is a way of bringing nutrients to the plant when they are crucial for its development. However, destructive measurements of crop nitrogen (N) status are still too costly and time consuming to justify their use, and the implementation of methodologies based on non-destructive, quick, and easy to use tools for plant nutritional status monitoring appears as an appealing opportunity. Several optical tools for plant monitoring have been developed in recent years, and many studies have assessed their ability to discriminate plant N status. Such tools can measure at leaf level (hand-held optical instruments) or may consider the canopy of a plant or few plants (portable radiometers) or even measure areas, such as a field, a farm, or a region (aerial photography). The application of vegetation indices, which combine the readings at different wavelengths, may improve the reliability of the collected data, giving a more precise determination of the plant nutritional status. In this article, we report on the state of the art of the available optical tools for plant N status monitoring.
    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)287-292
    Number of pages6
    JournalHortTechnology
    Volume21
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Jun 2011

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Horticulture

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