Crop Water Status Monitoring by Terahertz Imaging

We demonstrate the reliability and applicability of THz imaging for destructive and non-destructive water status monitoring of winter wheat leaves. Based on the measured THz transmission amplitude, we find that the water loss in the distal region is less than that in the basal region during the nature dehydration process. A high correlation is shown between the transmitted THz signal and water content level measured by gravimetric weighing method during dehydration and after rehydration. The obtained results show that the water content in winter wheat leaves can be measured destructively and non-destructively with a high accuracy, using terahertz waves in a transmission geometry.