The Role of Engineering Thermodynamics in Explaining the Inverse Correlation between Surface Temperature and Supplied Nitrogen Rate in Corn Plants: A Greenhouse Case Study

Heba Alzaben, Roydon Fraser and Clarence Swanton
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Heba Alzaben: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Roydon Fraser: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Clarence Swanton: Plant Agricultural Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-16

Abstract: Nitrogen stress plays a critical role in corn yield reduction. Thermal remote sensing has many applications: as an assessment tool for urban heat island, as an ecological indicator of ecosystem development, and as a water-stress-detection tool. In this study, it was hypothesized that corn crops supplied with optimum or high rates of nitrogen would have lower surface temperatures compared to corn grown under nitrogen-stressed conditions. Two experiments were conducted in the greenhouse at the University of Guelph, Canada, from the period between 2015 and 2016, involving three rates of nitrogen (high, medium, and low rates) supplied to corn plants after seed emergence. Leaf and whorl temperatures were collected by using a high-resolution thermal camera, an infrared handheld point measurements gun, and a type T thermocouple, respectively. An approximate difference of 2 °C was observed in temperatures between plants receiving high and low rates of nitrogen. These results supported the hypothesis that nitrogen-stressed plants have higher temperatures compared to less stressed plants, at a 0.05 significance level. This study investigated the application of the exergy destruction principle through thermal remote sensing, to detect crop stress at early growth stages under greenhouse conditions, to increase the production and reduce the harmful environmental impact.

Keywords: corn; exergy destruction principle; greenhouse experiments; nitrogen stress; precision agriculture; thermal remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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