Spatio Temporal Assessment of Vegetational Health in Ede South Local Government Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Plant health is a major concern of any Agricultural concern as they determine directly or indirectly the level of Agricultural production and by extension, the food security of any country. The assessment was carried out using integrated remote sensing and GIS techniques in Ede South local government of Osun State, Nigeria. Temperature, Relative humidity, Soil Type and Moisture content were the environmental factors considered. Vegetational Indices (NDVI, SAVI, NDWI, SIPI) were assessed in tandem with LST and environmental factors such as Temperature and Precipitation on a multi temporal basis. NDVI values decreased within a range of (-0.56 to -0.02) from 2017 to 2019, with a subsequent increase from 2019 to 2021 by (0.02 to 0.47). Moisture content measured through NDWI decreased within a range of (-1 to -0.08) from 2017-2019, then increased from 2019 to 2021 by (0.01 to 0.46)The vegetation of the area was very unhealthy around April, 2019 as a result of very low levels of moisture content, hence moisture content is an important environmental factor of plant health as a decrease in the moisture content of the vegetation in the study area led to a corresponding decrease in the vegetation health of the study area. Variance in moisture content was found to be the principal factor in the variation of the vegetational health condition over space and time. Spatio-temporal assessment of vegetational indices should be encouraged for assessing the contributory factors influencing vegetational health conditions as integrated GIS techniques have proven beyond doubt the capabilities of spatial analysis.