Abstract: The distribution of rice in Zhenjiang，Jiangsu province was separately extracted based on traditional empirical formula method and radiate transfer method Empirical formula method can be calculated by the statistical relationship between VI and LAINDVI and EVI were applied to establish the statistical model separately As for radiative transfer method，the PROSAIL model was adopted and LUT was established firstly Then the LAI of rice was determined through the comparison of the simulated reflectance data and the satellite remote sensing reflectance data The distribution of rice planting in Zhenjiang was determined by the phase distribution of LAI during the period of rice growth The results showed as followings：（1） by empirical formula method，Zhenjiangs rice area was 7.95×10.4 ha and relative error was 14.9%While by radiate transfer method，the rice area was 8.65×10.4 ha and relative error was 7.5% As a result，the result simulated by radiate transfer was closer to actual value than by traditional empirical formula method（2） In statistic model，the correlation between EVI and LAI was higher than the correlation between NDVI and LAI Thus，the result of further inversion of LAI would be more ideal when EVI-LAI method was used（3）The validation analysis of measured values showed that LAI RMSE inverted by statistical model was 1.32 and LAI RMSE inverted by PROSAIL model was 0.97So radiate transfer method was more stable than traditional empirical formula method when remote sensing inversion of vegetation biophysical parameters Research results of this paper are significant in the discussion of the application of traditional empirical formula method and radiate transfer method when crop distribution scopes are extracted Besides，results play an important role in accurate understanding of crops growth and planting area and have a good guidance for production

Key words: PROSAIL, Empirical formula, LUT, Rice, Remote sensing