Comparison between back propagation neural network and regression models for the estimation of pigment content in rice leaves and panicles using hyperspectral data

Two nitrogen experiments on rice were conducted in 2002, and the reflectances (350 to 2500 nm) and pigment contents (chlorophylls a and b, total chlorophylls and carotenoids) for leaf and panicle samples at different growth stages were measured in the laboratory. After performing an outlier analysis, the number of samples were 843 for leaves and 188 for panicles. Absorption features at 430, 460, 470, 640 and 660 nm for different pigments, and the relative reflectance of the green peak around 550 nm calculated by the continuum-removed method, as well as the red edge position (REP) of rice leaves and panicles were selected as the independent variables, and measured pigment contents were selected as the dependent variables. Then, back propagation neural network (BPN) models, a kind of artificial neuron network (ANN), and multivariate linear regression models (MLR) were trained and tested. The main objective of this study was to compare the predictive ability of the ANN models to that of the MLR models in estimating the content of pigments in rice leaves and panicles. Results showed that all BPN models gave higher coefficients of determination (R-2) and lower absolute errors (ABSEs) and root mean squared errors (RMSEs) than the corresponding MLR models, in both calibration and validation tests. Further significance tests by paired t tests and bootstrapping algorithms indicated that most of the BPN models outperformed the MLR models. When trained by combination data that did not meet the assumption of normal distribution, the BPN models appeared to not only have a better learning ability, but also had a more accurate predictive power than the MLR models. The estimation of leaf pigments was more accurate than that of panicle pigments, independent of which model was used.