biomass, dry biomass, and plant water content; whereas, the near 
infrared band (0.76-0.90 um) explained the most variation in leaf 
area index and percent soil cover. The results demonstrate the 
importance of collecting spectral information in the middle infrared 
wavelength region, as well as the visible and near infrared, for 
crop studies. 
The n° values for comparisons of measured and predicted canopy 
variables ranged from 0.80 to 0.91 when three or more spectral bands 
were included, indicating the potential for using remotely sensed 
spectral measurements to characterize the status of crops. Analyses 
showed that the best four thematic mapper bands could estimate crop 
canopy variables as well or better than the four Landsat bands. The 
difference is attributed to the narrower and more optimum placement 
: of the thematic mapper bands in relation to the spectral characteris- 
tics of vegetation. 
The strong relationship between spectral reflectance and differ- 
ent crop canopy variables illustrates the potential to monitor crop 
development and predict yield. Future research needs to investigate 
the amount of variation induced by different agronomic treatment 
factors on spectral reflectance and whether important treatment 
factors are spectrally separable. The type of prediction equations 
developed in this thesis need to be extended to several years of 
data, then used to estimate independent data sets. 
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