Journal
SENSORS
Volume 19, Issue 22, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/s19224838
Keywords
leaves; plants; terahertz quantum cascade laser; water content; drought stress
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Water availability is a major limiting factor in plant productivity and plays a key role in plant species distribution over a given area. New technologies, such as terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz-QCLs) have proven to be non-invasive, effective, and accurate tools for measuring and monitoring leaf water content. This study explores the feasibility of using an advanced THz-QCL device for measuring the absolute leaf water content in Corylus avellana L., Laurus nobilis L., Ostrya carpinifolia Scop., Quercus ilex L., Quercus suber L., and Vitis vinifera L. (cv. Sangiovese). A recently proposed, simple spectroscopic technique was used, consisting in determining the transmission of the THz light beam through the leaf combined with a photographic measurement of the leaf area. A significant correlation was found between the product of the leaf optical depth (tau) and the leaf surface area (L-A) with the leaf water mass (M-w) for all the studied species (Pearson's r test, p <= 0.05). In all cases, the best fit regression line, in the graphs of tau L-A as a function of M-w, displayed R-2 values always greater than 0.85. The method proposed can be combined with water stress indices of plants in order to gain a better understanding of the leaf water management processes or to indirectly monitor the kinetics of leaf invasion by pathogenic bacteria, possibly leading to the development of specific models to study and fight them.
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