Remote sensing and its use in detection and monitoring plant diseases: A review

Remote sensing is a rapid, non-invasive and efficient technique which can acquire and analyze spectral properties of earth surfaces from various distances, ranging from satellites to ground-based platforms. This modern technology holds promise in agricultural crop production including crop protection. Variability in the reflectance spectra of plants resulting from occurrence of disease and pests, allows their identification using remote sensing data. Various spectroscopic and imaging techniques like visible, infrared, multiband and fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence imaging, multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, thermography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy etc. have been studied for the detection of plant diseases. Several of these techniques have great potential in phytopathometry. Remote sensing technologies will be extremely helpful to greatly spatialize diagnostic results and thereby rendering agriculture more sustainable and safe, avoiding expensive use of pesticides in crop protection.