Evaluation of Multispectral Data Acquired from UAV Platform in Olive Orchard
Precision agriculture is a management strategy to improve resource efficiency, production, quality, profitability and sustainability of the crops. In recent years, olive tree management is increasingly focused on determining the correct health status of the plants in order to distribute the main resource using different technologies. In the olive grove, the focus is often on the use of multispectral information from UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), but it is not known how important spectral and biometric information actually is for the agronomic management of the olive grove. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of multispectral data acquired from a UAV platform to predict nu…
Precision Oliviculture: Research Topics, Challenges, and Opportunities—A Review
Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been an increase in the agricultural area devoted to olive growing and in the consumption of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). The continuous change in cultivation techniques implemented poses new challenges to ensure environmental and economic sustainability. In this context, precision oliviculture (PO) is having an increasing scientific interest and impact on the sector. Its implementation depends on various technological developments: sensors for local and remote crop monitoring, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), equipment and machinery to perform site-specific management through variable rate application (VRA), implementation of g…
Mycorrhizae differentially influence the transfer of nitrogen among associated plants and their competitive relationships
Abstract The formation of a common mycorrhizal network among roots of different plant species growing close to each other can influence plant community dynamics, regulating plant relationships through the differential transfer of nutrients from one plant to another. However, knowledge of the mechanisms that regulate this process is poor. Here we quantify the contribution of arbuscular mycorrhizae to the transfer of N among heterospecific plants growing adjacent to each other and examine whether the differential transfer of N within the plant community via mycorrhizae can alter competitive relationships among plant species. Plants of four species (wheat, pea, flax, and chicory) were grown in…
Application of Precision Agriculture for the Sustainable Management of Fertilization in Olive Groves
Olive tree growing (Olea europaea L.) has considerably increased in the last decades, as has the consumption of extra virgin olive oil in the world. Precision agriculture is increasingly being applied in olive orchards as a new method to manage agronomic variability with the aim of providing individual plants with the right input amount, limiting waste or excess. The objective of this study was to develop a methodology on a GIS platform using GEOBIA algorithms in order to build prescription maps for variable rate (VRT) nitrogen fertilizers application in an olive orchard. The fertilization plan was determined for each tree by applying its own nitrogen balance, taking into account the variab…
Positioning Accuracy Comparison of GNSS Receivers Used for Mapping and Guidance of Agricultural Machines
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) allow the determination of the 3D position of a point on the Earth&rsquo