There has been an increasing interest in
using non-destructive thermal imagery to determine leaf
temperature of plants. Leaf temperature has been proven as
an indicator of plant responses to various stressors (CHAERLE
and VAN DER STRAETEN 2000), in particular for plant water
availability (JONES 1999). The theory is that a reduced
stomatal aperture restricts transpiration and consequently
heat dissipation, resulting in an increase in leaf temperature
(GATES 1964).
The recognition of variations in leaf temperature led to
the combined efforts to use infrared thermography and visible
imagery to identify plant stress and non-destructively
monitoring of plant’s physiological status, particularly for
plant water availability in grapevines (JONES et al. 2002,
STOLL and JONES 2007) or in response to various pathogen
attacks (CHAERLE et al. 2004, OERKE 2006).
The research objective was to test whether infrared
thermography could be used to distinguish between confined
and infected versus non-infected areas upon attack
by Plasmopara viticola in grapevine leaves under varying
water status conditions