A Robust Near-Infrared Calibration Model for the Determination of Chlorophyll Concentration in Tree Leaves with a Calibration Transfer Method

A method based on piecewise direct standardization was developed to directly predict leaf chlorophyll concentrations by correction of near-infrared spectra to construct a robust calibration model. Chinar, camphor, and gingko leaves collected from two growth intervals were evaluated. Spectral pretreatment methods and wavelength selection were investigated. The first derivative combined with stability competitive adaptive reweighted sampling before piecewise direct standardization provided the best performance. Under the optimized parameters, the root mean square error of prediction was significantly reduced by using piecewise direct standardization. This study demonstrates that the calibration model may be used to rapidly characterize chlorophyll concentrations across species and growth intervals.