Monitoring Chlorophyll and Nitrogen Contents in Cotton Leaf Infected by Verticillium wilt with Spectra Red Edge Parameters

The relationship between chlorophyll (Chl) content, leaf nitrogen content (LNC) and red edge parameters were analyzed, and diagnose models of spectra red edge parameters were established for cotton leaf infected by Verticillium wilt. Results showed that: (1) Chl a, Chl b, Chl a+b content, and LNC decreased with increasing in severity level (SL) of Verticillium wilt in cotton leaves, in which Chl a showed the highest and Chl b showed the lowest decrement rate, respectively. (2) Spectrum reflectance increased with increasing severity of Verticillium wilt in the visible region (400–700 nm), near-infrared region (700–1300 nm) and short infrared region (1300–2500 nm), and significantly higher increment was detected in 525–680 nm region (P0.01). Spectrum absorption decreased significantly with increasing SL of Verticillium wilt in the visible region and short infrared region (P0.01), and which increased first and then decreased in near-infrared region. (3) Decrease of REP, Dr, Lo, Depth672, Area672 and increase of Lwidth was detected among red edge parameters, in which Area672 showed the highest and Dr showed the Lowest decrement rate, respectively. (4) There was significantly positive correlation between Chl a, Chl b, Chl a+b, LNC of cotton leaves and REP, Lo, Depth672, Area672 of red edge parameters, significantly negative correlation was found for Lwidth of red edge parameter, while no significant correlation was found for Dr of red edge parameter. (5) Diagnose models of Chl a, Chl a+b,edge parameter, while no significant correlation was found for Dr of red edge parameter. (5) Diagnose models of Chl a, Chl a+b, and LNC for Verticillium wilt in cotton leaves with the independent variables Area672, and Chl b with the independent variables Lo reached the best estimated precision (P0.01). This could diagnose severity level of Verticillium wilt in cotton leaves effectively.