Derivation of crop phenological parameters using multi-date SPOT-VGT-NDVI data: A case study for Punjab

Crop phenological parameters, such as the start and end time of the crop growth, the total length of the growing season, time of peak vegetation and rate of greening and senescence are important for planning crop management and crop diversification/intensification. Multi-temporal remote sensing data provides opportunity to characterize the crop phenology at regional level. This study was conducted during the kharif season of the year 2001-02 for Punjab. The ten-day Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composite products, with 1 km spatial resolution, available from the Vegetation sensor onboard SPOT4 were used for the study. Twenty-one temporal datasets from May 1, 2001 to November 21, 2001 were used. Logical modelling approach was followed to compute the minimum and maximum NDVI, the amplitude of NDVI, the threshold NDVI during sowing and harvest, the crop duration, integrated NDVI and skewness of profile. The analysis showed that before July beginning, in the whole of Punjab, sowing/planting was over. It was found that the crop emergence in the eastern part of the state started earlier than the western region. The maximum NDVI, which represented peak vegetative stage, was above 0.7 and occurred mostly during August. The duration of crops ranged between 90-140 days, with majority between 110-120 days. Total integrated NDVI in Punjab was generally above 60. Using principal component analysis and divergence analysis seven best metrics were selected for crop discrimination. © Indian Society of Remote Sensing 2008.