Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau

The nutrient status of forage during the senescent stage in an alpine grassland ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau provides important information for the precise supplementary feeding of grazing livestock. During the senescent stage, the application of remote sensing technology to understand the spati...

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Main Authors: Jinlong Gao, Tiangang Liang, Qisheng Feng, Zhibin He, Jing Wang, Dongmei Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-07-01
Series:Geo-spatial Information Science
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2025.2527353
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author Jinlong Gao
Tiangang Liang
Qisheng Feng
Zhibin He
Jing Wang
Dongmei Zhang
author_facet Jinlong Gao
Tiangang Liang
Qisheng Feng
Zhibin He
Jing Wang
Dongmei Zhang
author_sort Jinlong Gao
collection DOAJ
description The nutrient status of forage during the senescent stage in an alpine grassland ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau provides important information for the precise supplementary feeding of grazing livestock. During the senescent stage, the application of remote sensing technology to understand the spatial pattern of forage quality parameters accurately is crucial for grazing management. However, few studies have used relatively high-resolution multispectral images to map forage nutritional value, palatability, and digestibility during the senescent stage; the potential and feasibility of this approach have not been effectively confirmed. The present study aims to map the forage crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude fiber (CF), nitrogen-free extract (NFE), crude fat (EE), relative feed value (RFV) and organic matter digestibility (OMD) in alpine grassland during the senescent stage based on Sentinel-2 spectral variables and auxiliary data (i.e. topography, meteorology and soil). The results indicate that the spectral bands favorable for forage quality parameter retrievals are generally distributed in the red and shortwave infrared regions; the validation accuracy of the proposed optimal model varied among quality parameters (V-R2 of 0.28–0.69), with the model performing well for CP (V-R2 = 0.62, V-RMSE = 1.21%), EE (V-R2 = 0.46, V-RMSE = 0.35%), CF (V-R2 = 0.40, V-RMSE = 2.92%), and NFE (V-R2 = 0.69, V-RMSE = 3.60%) and unsatisfactorily (V-R2 of 0.28–0.39) for NDF, ADF, RFV, and OMD. Moreover, some vegetation indices derived from the wavebands of red, red-edge and near infrared regions and environmental factors such as elevation, radiation and temperature contributed significantly to forage quality parameter estimations. Overall, our study demonstrates that the integration of environmental variables and multispectral remote sensing data can not only improve the prediction performance of forage quality parameters, but also enable large-scale mapping of these parameters, with potential applications for the development of high-precision monitoring methods for forage nutritional status during the senescent stage of alpine grassland.
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spelling doaj-art-87dd0ce34e5c452bbf7bcf6433d173f02025-07-23T09:39:20ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeo-spatial Information Science1009-50201993-51532025-07-0112010.1080/10095020.2025.2527353Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan PlateauJinlong Gao0Tiangang Liang1Qisheng Feng2Zhibin He3Jing Wang4Dongmei Zhang5State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, ChinaLinze Inland River Basin Research Station, Chinese Ecosystem Network Research, Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, ChinaKey Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, ChinaThe nutrient status of forage during the senescent stage in an alpine grassland ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau provides important information for the precise supplementary feeding of grazing livestock. During the senescent stage, the application of remote sensing technology to understand the spatial pattern of forage quality parameters accurately is crucial for grazing management. However, few studies have used relatively high-resolution multispectral images to map forage nutritional value, palatability, and digestibility during the senescent stage; the potential and feasibility of this approach have not been effectively confirmed. The present study aims to map the forage crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude fiber (CF), nitrogen-free extract (NFE), crude fat (EE), relative feed value (RFV) and organic matter digestibility (OMD) in alpine grassland during the senescent stage based on Sentinel-2 spectral variables and auxiliary data (i.e. topography, meteorology and soil). The results indicate that the spectral bands favorable for forage quality parameter retrievals are generally distributed in the red and shortwave infrared regions; the validation accuracy of the proposed optimal model varied among quality parameters (V-R2 of 0.28–0.69), with the model performing well for CP (V-R2 = 0.62, V-RMSE = 1.21%), EE (V-R2 = 0.46, V-RMSE = 0.35%), CF (V-R2 = 0.40, V-RMSE = 2.92%), and NFE (V-R2 = 0.69, V-RMSE = 3.60%) and unsatisfactorily (V-R2 of 0.28–0.39) for NDF, ADF, RFV, and OMD. Moreover, some vegetation indices derived from the wavebands of red, red-edge and near infrared regions and environmental factors such as elevation, radiation and temperature contributed significantly to forage quality parameter estimations. Overall, our study demonstrates that the integration of environmental variables and multispectral remote sensing data can not only improve the prediction performance of forage quality parameters, but also enable large-scale mapping of these parameters, with potential applications for the development of high-precision monitoring methods for forage nutritional status during the senescent stage of alpine grassland.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2025.2527353Grass senescenceSentinel-2 dataQuality parametersEstimation modelSpatial distribution
spellingShingle Jinlong Gao
Tiangang Liang
Qisheng Feng
Zhibin He
Jing Wang
Dongmei Zhang
Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau
Geo-spatial Information Science
Grass senescence
Sentinel-2 data
Quality parameters
Estimation model
Spatial distribution
title Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau
title_full Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau
title_fullStr Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau
title_full_unstemmed Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau
title_short Mapping forage quality parameters based on Sentinel-2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in Tibetan Plateau
title_sort mapping forage quality parameters based on sentinel 2 images and auxiliary data during the senescent stage of alpine grasslands in tibetan plateau
topic Grass senescence
Sentinel-2 data
Quality parameters
Estimation model
Spatial distribution
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2025.2527353
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