Selection of sensitive bands for assessing Alernaria blight diseased severity grades in mustard crops using hyperspectral reflectance

Recent development in remote sensing technology using hyperspectral reflectance or spectroscopic data was enabled the rapid and ongoing progression of monitoring, mapping, and surveillance/detection of insects tools for better crop management. This study describes a spectroscopic based methodology to escalation the efficiency of present surveillance practices (insect traps and human examinations) for detection pest infestation (e.g., Alternaria blight in mustard crop). The methodology uses ground based hyperspectral data across the spectral bands 350-2500nm at 1 nm interval. Three different statistical procedures such as correlation (between reflectance, 1st and 2nd derivatives with diseased severity grades), continuum removal analysis was implemented for selection of sensitive bands. In this method, we explore the combinations of different selected sensitive spectral bands and regions to separate diseased crops. The objectives of this research is to develop a novel methodology for selection of sensitive bands to Alternaria blight diseased crops. The development of such methodology would provide researchers, Agronomist, and remote sensing practitioners reliable and stable method to achieve faster technique with higher accuracy to mapping of Alternaria blight diseased crops