Remote sensing techniques have the potential to provide information on vegetation status. Therefore, this study was designed to determine the ability of a multispectral field spectrometer to estimate Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko)) damage to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Percentage reflectance data were collected over 1 m2 wheat plots in 10 fields in the spring of 2006. Percentage reflectance data were transformed into spectral vegetation indices. The percentage damage was visually assessed on the ground. A simple linear regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationships between spectral vegetation indices and percentage damage. The results show that there were strong relationships between percentage damage and vegetation indices. The highest and lowest coefficients of determination (R2) were 0.94 and 0.49, respectively. These results suggest that remotely sensed data can be used to estimate Russian wheat aphid damage to wheat under field conditions with a high degree of accuracy and precision.

Keywords: Remote sensing, vegetation indices, radiometer, Russian wheat aphid, wheat.