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On the need of accounting for the influence of the soil background on the relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index of agricultural crops and their yield using the example of winter crops
E.Yu. Prudnikova1, I.Yu. Savin1,2

1 FRC V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, Per. Pyzhevski, 2, bldg. 7, Moscow, 119017, Russia;
2 The Faculty of Ecology, RUDN, Podolskoye Shosse, 8, bldg. 5, Moscow, 115093, Russia

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DOI: 10.18287/COJ1749

Article ID: 1749

Language: Russian

Abstract:
The normalized difference vegetation index is widely used for the assessment and prediction of crop yield. At the same time this vegetation index is sensitive to the influence of the soil background, which may affect the results of the prediction. This article demonstrates an approach for correcting the influence of the soil background on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index of agricultural crops, using winter crops as an example. The study was carried out on test plots with winter wheat located in the Moscow and Tula regions. During field studies in 2018-2019, we measured the spectral reflectance of the soil and winter wheat plants in different phases of their development. Based on a linear spectral mixture model, we modelled the spectral reflectance of the winter wheat crop canopy in the red and near-infrared spectral bands in different phases of winter wheat development with varying projected area. For each phase, a base soil was determined in relation to which the spectral reflectance of the winter wheat crop canopy on other soils was corrected. Correction factors were calculated for the spectral reflectance of crops in the red and near-infrared channels to bring them into line with the spectral reflectance of crops on the base soil. The effect of the correction factors on the relationship between the analysed vegetation index and the yield of winter crops was assessed using the Yasnogorsk and Venevsky districts of the Tula region as examples. Two options were considered: the seasonal maximum of the vegetation index and the vegetation index for the week in which the correlation between the value of this index and the yield of winter crops was the highest. In general, the use of the correction factors provided an increase in the correlation between the yield of winter crops and the analysed vegetation index.

Keywords:
spectral reflectance, spectral mixture, Landsat-8 OLI, NDVI, winter crops, soil, agriculture.

Acknowledgements:
he study was conducted within the framework of a state assignment for a research project at the V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute (a Federal Research Center), under project code FGUR-2025-0003 (No. 226012223045-7).

Citation:
Prudnikova EYu, Savin IYu. On the need of accounting for the influence of the soil background on the relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index of agricultural crops and their yield using the example of winter crops. Computer Optics 2026; 50(5): 1749. doi: 10.18287/COJ1749.

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