Crop growth monitoring using green seeker technology: a case of narc field station in pothwar region

The green seeker technology was applied to acquire Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Red-Near Infrared (NIR) ratio of main crops i.e. wheat, rice and oats grown in the NARC field station, Pothwar region to provide repository for future monitoring of the crops through satellite imaging. The spectral data of different growth stages of the wheat crop indicated NDVI values ranging between 0.1 – 0.88 during Rabi 2006-07 and Rabi 2015-16. The values of wheat and oat crops indicated a similar pattern during Rabi 2015-16, but with slight difference before the heading and near the harvesting stage of the crops. The NDVI values of rice crop grown in the irrigated fields during Kharif 2007 ranged between 0.03 – 0.61. The value was maximum during the heading followed by maturity stage. NDVI values observed in the rainfed fields indicated high variability due to heterogeneous crop cover resulting from variable moisture conditions, fertilizer use, soil type and sowing practices. A detail study needs to be carried out in different agro ecological regions of the country to collect unique spectral characteristic of different crops and the surrounding land covers to support satellite based crop monitoring and yield forecasting in future.