Vidican, R.; Mălinaș, A.; Ranta, O.; Moldovan, C.; Marian, O.; Ghețe, A.; Ghișe, C.R.; Popovici, F.; Cătunescu, G.M. Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Indices for the Discrimination and Monitoring of Agricultural Crops: A Critical Review. Agronomy2023, 13, 3040.
Vidican, R.; Mălinaș, A.; Ranta, O.; Moldovan, C.; Marian, O.; Ghețe, A.; Ghișe, C.R.; Popovici, F.; Cătunescu, G.M. Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Indices for the Discrimination and Monitoring of Agricultural Crops: A Critical Review. Agronomy 2023, 13, 3040.
Vidican, R.; Mălinaș, A.; Ranta, O.; Moldovan, C.; Marian, O.; Ghețe, A.; Ghișe, C.R.; Popovici, F.; Cătunescu, G.M. Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Indices for the Discrimination and Monitoring of Agricultural Crops: A Critical Review. Agronomy2023, 13, 3040.
Vidican, R.; Mălinaș, A.; Ranta, O.; Moldovan, C.; Marian, O.; Ghețe, A.; Ghișe, C.R.; Popovici, F.; Cătunescu, G.M. Using Remote Sensing Vegetation Indices for the Discrimination and Monitoring of Agricultural Crops: A Critical Review. Agronomy 2023, 13, 3040.
Abstract
The agricultural sector is currently confronting multifaceted challenges such as an increased food demand, a slow adoption of sustainable farming, a need for climate-resilient food systems, resource inequity, and protection of the small-scale farmers’ practices, all issues integral to food security and environmental health. Remote sensing technologies can assist precision agriculture to effectively address these complex problems, by providing farmers with a high-resolution lens. The use of vegetation indices (VIs) is an essential component of remote sensing, which combine the variability of spectral reflectance value (derived from remote sensing data) with the growth stage of crops. Currently a wide array of VIs is available that could be used to provide a classification and an evaluation of the state and health of crops. However precisely this high number leads to difficulties in selecting the best VI and combination of VIs for a specific objective. Without a thorough documentation and analysis of appropriate VIs, users might be confronted with difficulties in using remote sensing data or even with a very low accuracy of the results. Thus, the objective of this review is to conduct a critical analysis of the existing state of the art on the most important features related to the effective use of VIs for the discrimination and monitoring of the most important agricultural crops (wheat, corn, sunflower, soybean, rape, potatoes, and forage crops), grasslands and meadows. This data could be highly useful for all the stakeholders involved in agricultural activities (from farmers, researchers up to institutions dealing with the centralization and monitoring of agricultural crops).
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
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