CIE L*a*b* Color Space Based Vegetation Indices Derived from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Captured Images for Chlorophyll and Nitrogen Content Estimation of Tea (Camellia sinensis L. Kuntze) Leaves

A lot of digital image techniques to assess the crop agronomic character have been developed, most of which are based
on non-visible light equipped cameras, such as infrared wavelengths. This research aimed to examine the use of
commercial digital camera with sensor range in visible light spectrum using CIE L*a*b* color space to estimate
chlorophyll and nitrogen content of tea leaf. Data were collected from an experiment of nitrogen dosage levels on 3
years after pruning of tea crops. The result showed that Lb* Difference Simple Index (LI), a*b* Difference Simple
Index (AI), and a* Vegetation Index (VIA) can be used to estimate tea leaf chlorophyll and nitrogen content. The
corrrelation between VIA and tea leaf nitrogen content was defined on quadratic equation y = 1.8382x 2 - 0.3099x +
3.0658 with determinant coefficient R² = 0.71.