A new three-band spectral index for mitigating the saturation in the estimation of leaf area index in wheat

The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a commonly used index for monitoring crop growth status. Previous studies have shown that the leaf area index (LAI) estimation based on NDVI is limited by saturation that occurs under conditions of relatively dense canopies (LAI > 2 m ² m –²). To reduce the saturation effect, we suggested new spectral indices through the spectral indices approach. The results suggested that the two-band normalized difference spectral index (NDSI = ((ρ ₉₄₀ –ρ ₇₃₀) /(ρ ₉₄₀ + ρ ₇₃₀))) resulted from the two-band spectral indices approach and the three-band modified normalized difference spectral index (mNDSI = ((ρ ₉₄₀ – 0.8 × ρ ₉₅₀) – ρ ₇₃₀) /((ρ ₉₄₀ – 0.8 × ρ ₉₅₀) + ρ ₇₃₀)) resulted from the three-band spectral indices approach, and they were able to mitigate saturation and improve the LAI prediction with a determination coefficient (R ²) of 0.77 and 0.78, respectively. In the validation based on data from independent experiments, these new indices exhibited an accuracy with relative root mean square error (RRMSE) lower than 23.38% and bias higher than –0.40. These accuracies were significantly higher than those obtained with some existing indices with good performance in LAI estimation, such as the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) (RRMSE = 30.19%, bias = –0.34) and the modified triangular vegetation index 2 (MTVI2) (RRMSE = 29.30%, bias = –0.28), and the indices with the ability to mitigate the saturation, such as the wide dynamic range vegetation index (WDRVI) (RRMSE = 31.37%, bias = –0.54), the red-edge wide dynamic range vegetation index (red-edge WDRVI) (RRMSE = 26.34%, bias = –0.54), and the normalized difference red-edge index (NDRE) (RRMSE = 28.41%, bias = –0.56). Additionally, these new indices were more sensitive under moderate to high LAI conditions (between 2 and 8 m ² m –²). Between these two new developed spectral indices, there was no significant difference in the accuracy and sensitivity assessments. Considering the index structure and convenience in application, we demonstrated that the two-band spectral index NDSI((ρ ₉₄₀ –ρ ₇₃₀) /(ρ ₉₄₀ + ρ ₇₃₀)) is efficient in mitigating saturation and has considerable potential for estimating the LAI of canopies throughout the entire growing season of wheat (Triticum aestivum L .), whereas the three-band spectral index contributes lesser in the saturation mitigation provided the red-edge band has been contained.