89 
MULTISPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING 
APPLICATION IN RANGELAND CAPABILITY 
EVALUATION FOR GRAZING 
Mostafa K. Nosseir 
Institute for Space Research, Brazil 
ABSTRACT 
The Hasselblad system was used to evaluate a two-year-protected 
rangeland area, during the dry season. Three film types and four filters were 
the combinations used during the flight. Leaf reflectance curves indicate the 
suitable seasons to obtain the requested information. Multispectral interpreta 
tion permit the identification of 21 categories in four capability classes. It 
is wrong to say that one filter or film is better than the other, because each 
combination is transmitting different data. The summation of this information 
gives integrated data. 
INTRODUCTION 
Animal production is still the main protein resource to supply man's 
needs. Ecologists, botanists and economists are always working hard to give 
range managers new and important information to manage ranches in the most 
efficient way. Almost 90% of the livestock production of Latin American is 
dependent on natural range grassland, but the mentality of conservation of 
natural grazing lands is not deep-rooted (3). The shortage of meat and milk in 
the Brazilian market raises the need to look for a more efficient technology 
to evaluate the range resource capability for grazing. It is vitally important 
to have an accurate up-to-date knowledge of the structure, use and condition 
of the vast areas of the Brazilian natural grazing land. The job is very com 
plex and expensive, that is why it has never been done. 
Remote sensing techniques offer up-to-date information and rapid 
feedback on changing environmental conditions. It is also necessary to know 
what season of the year difference in characteristics can best be detected, on 
which kind of film, and using what filters (1). This paper demonstrates and 
proves that remote sensing techniques can do this job more efficiently with 
fewer specialists over a shorter time period for large areas. Multispectral 
analysis was used to obtain information for a two-year-protected native pasture, 
by flying over the area with Hasselblad 500 EL/70mm system from an altitude of 
500 meters above the ground. 
METHODOLOGY 
The main objective of the recent study is to apply multispectral