Physical Modelling of Nikon Coolpix Camera RGB Responses for Application in Non-Destructive Leaf Chlorophyll Imaging

This paper describes computer aided leaf digital image analysis based on leaf reflectance imaging. It is based on a fast, non-destructive measurement technique of leaf chlorophyll content imaging based on measurements of leaf reflectance. The validity of the method is demonstrated by a direct comparison of conventional chlorophyll extraction of both leaf chlorophyll pigments a, b with reflectance based estimates of leaf chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll imagery. The leaves of the species selected for this paper are characterized by heterogeneous chlorophyll distributions. The application of the software developed for image analysis at the leaf spatial level allows revealing the morphological structures which determine the spatial variation of leaf chlorophylls. The technique opens the path towards FERET type taxonomy.