Thermal imaging to evaluate wheat genotypes under dryland conditions

Abstract

Thermal imaging has been used to determine canopy temperature and study plant water relationships. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential use of infrared thermal imaging to determine crop canopy temperature (Tc) and evaluate wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes under drought conditions. Thermal images were acquired at anthesis and grain-filling stages from 17 genotypes grown under dryland conditions in 2015 and 2016 winter wheat growing season at Bushland, TX. A handheld thermal camera was used to acquire thermal images and the images were processed using customized image processing software. The customized software filters out the background soil from the thermal images and calculates the mean Tc.A significant difference (p < .05) in Tc among genotypes was found during grain filling in 2015 and at anthesis in 2016. Genotypes TAM 111, TAM 114, PlainsGold Byrd, and Jagalene had cooler canopies, and Billings, TAM 304, and TAM 105 had warmer canopies in both years. There was a significant negative correlation between grain yield and Tc measured at anthesis (r =-.48, p < .05) and grain-filling (r = -.33, p < .05). Infrared thermal imaging showed a promising method to obtain Tc, which can be used to evaluate genotypes for drought tolerance.

AI-assisted image analysis and physiological validation for progressive drought detection in a diverse panel of Gossypium hirsutum L.

“…Thermal imaging, also known as infrared thermography, is a powerful and non-invasive technique that has found widespread relevance in recent years to assess canopy temperature and their responses to both abiotic and biotic stressors, from salt stress, heat, and drought stress to bacterial and fungal infections ( Pineda et al., 2021 ). The analysis of canopy temperatures has been connected to traditional physiological measurements—leaf water potential, gas exchange, and chlorophyll a fluorescence ( Cohen et al., 2005 ; Casari et al., 2019 )—and utilized to screen for genotypic variation across several species ( Casari et al., 2019 ; Bhandari et al., 2021 ; Ferguson et al., 2021 ). The processing of thermal images usually starts by separating the canopy impression from the background pixels that may include soil particles and other structures.…”

An Open-Source Package for Thermal and Multispectral Image Analysis for Plants in Glasshouse

“…Thermal imaging paired with multispectral imaging provides a dimensional modality to study the physiological response of plants to stress [ 1 ]. For instance, thermal images can detect subtle temperature changes, while multispectral images provide complementary information on the presence of any biotic stress (observed from colour change), and crop biomass [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Further, specific technical constraints of unimodal datasets can be resolved through multimodal data fusion.…”

Proximal thermal imaging‐based irrigation scheduling for bread wheat in Egypt

“…In arid areas, the difference between leaf and air temperature can be utilized for monitoring plant water status and can permit water management based on the relationship between leaf stomatal closure and surface temperature. Most of the successful work for obtaining the relationship between leaf temperature and plant water stress has been accomplished in arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean climates for many crops, including wheat (Bai & Purcell, 2018;Bhandari et al 2021;Deery et al, 2016;Grant et al, 2006;Jones et al, 2009;Möller et al, 2006;Zia et al, 2012Zia et al, , 2013. The use of thermal images allows for detecting hot areas with water stress or cool areas with overirrigation or poor drainage (Petrovi c et al, 2016).…”