SENSOR-BASED WATER STRESS ASSESSMENT FOR HIGH-THROUGHPUT PLANT PHENOTYPING AND OPTIMIZED WATER MANAGEMENT

The overall goal of this project is to improve plant phenotyping for water stress assessment and enhance water management using remote sensing and precision agriculture technologies. The achievement of this goal will improve crop water use efficiency, conserve water, and enhance agricultural sustainability. The objectives of this research project are to:Evaluate vegetation indices in assessing crop water stress and soil water content using high-resolution UAS multispectral and thermal images;Determine the optimal spatial and temporal resolutions required to characterize plant water stresses;Develop algorithms to integrate data from different sources with various spatial and temporal resolutions for site-specific water management in commercial agricultural applications.