In-Season Assessment of Rabi Crop Progression and Condition from Multi Source Data

Timely and accurate information on periodic crop progress and condition is essential to an agricultural country like India. The current study has been carried out with the objective of monitoring the timelines of the sowing of rabi crops viz. wheat and mustard, their progression and condition assessment using data from multiple sources viz. a set of indices derived from remote sensing, meteorological parameters and crop simulation modeling. The study area consists of six districts with significant wheat and mustard crops namely Patiala, Bhiwani, Agra, Bharatpur, Morena and Rohtas, and has been done for three years (2008–09, 2012–13 and 2013–14). The methodology consists of analysis of multi-temporal AWiFS and MODIS datasets of historical and current seasons for the period October to March covering rabi season. Crop simulation for wheat was carried out using DSSAT-CERES crop growth model for assessing crop growth. The results were discussed in terms of crop progression, start-of-the-season and crop condition. As a future scope of this study, thermal indices can be incorporated for further refinement and the same can be extended to larger areas.