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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Crop Production Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #297847
Title: Glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-susceptible Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S Wats.): hyperspectral reflectance properties of plants and potential for classification

Author
item Reddy, Krishna
item Huang, Yanbo
item Lee, Matthew
item Nandula, Vijay
item Fletcher, Reginald
item Thomson, Steven
item ZHAO, FENG - Beihang University

Submitted to: Pest Management Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/15/2013
Publication Date: 3/19/2014
Citation: Reddy, K.N., Huang, Y., Lee, M.A., Nandula, V.K., Fletcher, R.S., Thomson, S.J., Zhao, F. 2014. Glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-susceptible Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S Wats.): hyperspectral reflectance properties of plants and potential for classification. Pest Management Science. 70:1910-1917.

Interpretive Summary: Palmer amaranth (pigweed) is a troublesome agronomic weed in the southern United States, and several populations have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Scientists at the USDA-ARS, Crop Production Systems Research Unit in Stoneville, Mississippi have investigated hyperspectral spectral signatures of glyphosate-resistant (GR) and glyphosate-sensitive (GS) Palmer amaranth plants and explored the potential of using hyperspectral sensors to distinguish GR from GS plants. GS plants have higher light reflectance in visible region and lower light reflectance in infrared region of the spectrum compared to GR plants. The normalized reflectance spectrum of the GR and GS plants had the best separability in spectral regions of 400-500 nm, 650-690 nm, 730-740 nm, and 800-900 nm. Fourteen wavebands from within or near these four spectral regions provided a classification of unknown set of the GR and GS plants with a validation accuracy of 94% for greenhouse plants and 96% for field plants. These results demonstrate that GR and GS Palmer amaranth plants have unique hyperspectral reflectance properties and have potential application to distinguish GR from GS Palmer amaranth plants without a glyphosate treatment).

Technical Abstract: BACKGROUND: Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Wats.) is a troublesome agronomic weed in the southern United States, and several populations have evolved resistance to glyphosate. This paper reports spectral signatures of glyphosate-resistant (GR) and glyphosate-sensitive (GS) plants, and explores the potential of using hyperspectral sensors to distinguish GR from GS plants. RESULTS: GS plants have higher light reflectance in visible region and lower light reflectance in infrared region of the spectrum compared to GR plants. The normalized reflectance spectrum of the GR and GS plants had the best separability in spectral regions of 400-500 nm, 650-690 nm, 730-740 nm, and 800-900 nm. Fourteen wavebands from within or near these four spectral regions provided a classification of unknown set of the GR and GS plants with a validation accuracy of 94% for greenhouse-grown plants and 96% for field-grown plants. CONCLUSIONS: GR and GS Palmer amaranth plants have unique hyperspectral reflectance properties and there are four distinct regions of the spectrum that can separate the GR from GS plants. These results demonstrate that hyperspectral imaging has potential application to distinguish GR from GS Palmer amaranth plants (without a glyphosate treatment), with future implications for glyphosate resistance management.