Study of Drought Effects on Three Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Using Field Spectroscopy

Abstract

Water deficit is one of the major environmental issues affecting biodiversity. Drought-related works are conducted to explore the mechanisms involved in drought vulnerability or resistance and to adopt the most advantageous tool to monitor these changes. Field spectroscopy, an accessory tool of remote sensing, evaluates the reflectance to collect continuous spectrum from materials. In the conducted study, the potential of using UV-Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a non-destructive and reliable approach in monitoring of drought effects on three Medicinal and Aromatic Plants species (MAPs): Lavandula stoechas, Cistus laurifolius and Pistacia lentiscus from Northern Morocco during dry (July 2021) and wet (March 2022) period was addressed. It was found that Lavandula stoechas species is more impacted by water deficit than Cistus laurifolius and Pistacia lentiscus. Indeed, this species has a lower reflectance in Visible and NIR regions of the spectrum after a period of drought and therefore a higher vulnerability to water deficit than the other two species.