Residual Effect and N Fertilizer Rate Detection by High-Resolution VNIR-SWIR Hyperspectral Imagery and Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Wheat

Adjusting nitrogen (N) fertilization and accounting for the legacy of past N fertilizer application (i.e., residual N) based on remote sensing estimation of crop nutritional status may increase resource efficiency and promote sustainable management of cropping systems. Our main goal was to evaluate the potential of hyperspectral airborne imagers and ground-level sensors for identifying N fertilizer rates and the residual N effect from the previous crop fertilization in a maize/wheat rotation. A two-season field trial that provided various combinations of N rates and residual N response was established in central Spain. Ground-level sensors and aerial hyperspectral images were used to calculate vegetation indices (VIs). In addition, the solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF
₇₆₀
) was estimated by the Fraunhofer line-depth method using high-resolution hyperspectral imagery, and together with biophysical modeling, biochemical and biophysical constituents at canopy scales were retrieved. N uptake, N output, grain N concentration, and proximal sensors discriminated between different N fertilizer rates and identified the residual effect when it was relevant. Structural, photosynthetic pigments and short-wave infrared region (SWIR)-based VIs, together with SIF
₇₆₀
and the chlorophyll
$a + b$
(
$C_{{\mathrm {ab}}}$
), biomass, and the leaf area index (LAI), performed similarly on N rate detection. However, the residual effect of nitrification inhibitors was only detected by the structural (NDVI and OSAVI), chlorophyll (CCCI and NDRE), blue/green, NIR-SWIR (
$\text{N}_{850,1510}$
) indices, SIF
₇₆₀
,
$C_{{\mathrm {ab}}}$
, biomass, and the LAI. This study confirmed the ability of remote sensing to identify N rates at early growth stages and highlighted its potential to detect residual N in crop rotation.