Abstract:The number of tillers has a significant effect on the winter wheat field management and the prediction of winter wheat yield. However,the traditional manual counting method of the tiller counting is inefficient. With the development of spectral technology and the application of low altitude remote sensing technology in agriculture, a method was provided for monitoring the number of tillers and growth of the winter wheat by calculating crop canopy reflectance and vegetation index. A 4waveband crop monitor with spectral reflectance was used to carry on the experiment (Tainong 18). The instrument can obtain the crop canopy reflecting signals at 550nm, 650nm, 766nm and 850nm simultaneously. After that the crop canopy reflectance was first calculated and then nine vegetation indexes: OSAVI, MSAVI, SAVI, EVI2, TVI, NDGI,NDVI, RVI and DVI, were also calculated. The relationship between the tillering of winter wheat and each index of nine vegetation indexes was analyzed in both regreening and erecting stages. In regreening stage, the correlation between OSAVI(650,850)and tillers was the highest (R2 is 0.85, RMSE is 11893), while in erecting stage, the correlation between EVI2(650,850)and tillers was the highest (R2 is 0.84, RMSE is 73.04). The results of the test showed that there was a significant relationship between the winter wheat tillers and the two vegetation indexes. This may help the development of the instrument for winter wheat tillers counting based on canopy spectral reflection. The conclusions can be used in rapid predicting of wheat tillering and giving suggestions to field precision management.