Remote sensing for pest damage: Present status and potential application – case studies from India

Abstract

Traditionally, pest and disease assessment of crop plants is being done by visual approach i.e., relying up on human eye and brain to assess their incidence. However, they are time consuming,laboriousoften error prone. Remote sensing technologies offer ample scope towards developing an alternate means that can enhance or supplement the traditional approaches for monitoring and control. Remote sensing of damage due to pests and diseses in crops is based on the assumption that stresses interferes with photosynthesis and physical structure of the plant at tissue and canopy level. Thus,affects the absorption of light energy and alter the reflectance spectrum. Detailed studies into spectral reflectance of crops infested with pests can help to identify unique and specific spectral signatures that can be used for detecting the damage. Remote sensing platforms can be ground based,airborne or space borne. Depending on the spectral resolution and contiguous nature of spectral recording the sensors can be either multispectral or hyperspectral. Remote sensing technology could provide timely information on spatial variability of pest damage over a large area. Thus can guide scouting efforts and crop protection advisory in an effective manner. A lot of research work has been done on this aspect world over. However, in India, the studies are limited to few crops and pests. Thisreview provides an overview of the research work done in India and potential application of this technology in crop protection.With the advancements in the communication, aviation and space technology, remote sensing has immense potential in the future agriculture.