Yield estimation of winter wheat in North China Plain using RS-P-YEC model

The accurate prediction of crop yield is of great help for grain policy making as the importance of food in human life. By assuming a homogeneous and vertical laminar structure and introducing a multilayer-two-big-leaf model, we developed a radiative transfer equation for winter wheat canopy and a model named RS-P-YEC (Remote Sensing - Photosynthesis - Yield Estimation for Crop) for winter wheat yield estimation. In this model, we converted the net primary productivity to winter wheat yield using harvest index. In this study, we estimated yield of winter wheat in North China Plain using the RS-P-YEC model. The simulated yield agrees well with observations from agro-meteorological stations and the R² reaches to 0.817. This study demonstrates that RS-P-YEC model is useful in the yield estimation of winter wheat in North China Plain with widely available remotely sensed images.