Identifying Drought Tolerant Cotton Cultivars Using Spectral Reflectance and Canopy Temperature.

Accurate estimate of leaf water status could be used to identify drought tolerant cultivars of cotton. Canopy temperature is a valuable non-destructive measurement of plant water status. Well irrigated crops can maintain cool canopy temperature, however under water stress conditions canopy temperature will increase. The objective of this research was to identify drought tolerant cotton cultivars utilizing spectral reflectance data and canopy temperature. The field study had different tillage treatments and three irrigation regimes (dry land, 45% ET, and 90% ET) in a randomized complete block design with three replications.  Multispectral reflectance across the wavelengths between 447 and 1752 nm was measured using a portable 16 channel multispectral spectroradiometer (Cropscan Inc., Rochester, MN). The plant canopy temperature was recorded using a hand-held infrared thermometer (IRtec MicroRay HVAC, Langhorne, PA). In this poster, we will present results from this study.