Detection of the Metabolic Response to Drought Stress Using Hyperspectral Reflectance

Burnett, Angela; Serbin, S. P.; Davidson, K. J.; Ely, K. S.; Rogers, Alistair

doi:10.1093/jxb/erab255

Title: Detection of the Metabolic Response to Drought Stress Using Hyperspectral Reflectance

Journal Article · 02 June 2021 · Journal of Experimental Botany

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab255 · OSTI ID:1788044

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Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Environmental and Climate Sciences Dept.

Drought is the most important limitation on crop yield. Understanding and detecting drought stress in crops is vital for improving water use efficiency through effective breeding and management. Leaf reflectance spectroscopy offers a rapid, non-destructive alternative to traditional techniques for measuring plant traits involved in a drought response. We measured drought stress in six glasshouse-grown agronomic species using physiological, biochemical and spectral data. In contrast to physiological traits, leaf metabolite concentrations revealed drought stress before it was visible to the naked eye. We used full-spectrum leaf reflectance data to predict metabolite concentrations using partial least-squares regression, with validation R2 values of 0.49 to 0.87. We show for the first time that spectroscopy may be used for the quantitative estimation of proline and abscisic acid, demonstrating the first use of hyperspectral data to detect a phytohormone. We used linear discriminant analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis to differentiate between droughted and watered plants based on measured traits (accuracy: 71%) and raw spectral data (66%). Finally, we validated our glasshouse-developed models in an independent field trial. We demonstrate that spectroscopy can detect drought stress via underlying biochemical changes, before visual differences occur, representing a powerful advance for measuring limitations on yield.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1788044

Report Number(s):: BNL-221599-2021-JAAM

Journal Information:: Journal of Experimental Botany, Journal Name: Journal of Experimental Botany Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 72; ISSN 0022-0957

Publisher:: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Abscisic acid (ABA)
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Title: Detection of the Metabolic Response to Drought Stress Using Hyperspectral Reflectance

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