From fields to space farming, new tool detects crop drought stress before it's visible

When it comes to drought stress, timing can be the difference between saving a crop and losing it, whether in a greenhouse or in the high-stakes environment of future space missions. In a recent study published in Plant Phenomics, researchers with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and NASA used hyperspectral imaging to detect stress in lettuce plants shortly after watering was reduced.