Multi-spectral Mueller Matrix Imaging for Wheat Stripe Rust

Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis, has reduced winter wheat yield globally for ages. In this work, multi-spectral Mueller matrix imaging with 37 measurements using the method of double rotatable quarter-wave plates was used to investigate wheat stripe rust. Individual Mueller matrix measurements were performed on incident monochromatic light with nine bands in the range of 430 to 690 nm. As a result, it was found that the infected area absorbed linearly polarized light and was sensitive to circularly polarized light in the spectral domain. Both linear depolarization and linear diattenuation images distinguished between wheat stripe rust and healthy tissue. The responsiveness of stripe rust to polarized light reveals the potential of using polarization imaging to detect plant diseases. This further suggests that the multi-spectral Mueller matrix imaging system provides us with an alternative approach to agricultural disease detection.