High-resolution UAV imagery for field olive (Olea europaea L.) phenotyping
Remote sensing techniques based on images acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could represent an effective tool to speed up the data acquisition process in phenotyping trials and, consequently, to reduce the time and cost of the field work. In this study, we assessed the ability of a UAV equipped with RGB-NIR cameras in highlighting differences in geometrical and spectral canopy characteristics between eight olive cultivars planted at different planting distances in a hedgerow olive orchard. The relationships between measured and estimated canopy height, projected canopy area and canopy volume were linear regardless of the different cultivars and planting distances (RMSE of 0.12 m…
Detecting biophysical and geometrical characteristics of the canopy of three olive cultivars in hedgerow planting systems using an UAV and VIS-NIR cameras
The success of olive (Olea europaea) orchards depends on the interaction between genotype, planting system and orchard management. Research efforts often collide with the lack of high-throughput monitoring technologies for effective and rapid evaluation of expressed phenotypes under field conditions. Rapid phenotyping technologies allow to acquire a large amount of information in a relatively short period, optimizing efforts and labor. In an experiment carried out in Sicily, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with VIS-NIR cameras was used to monitor canopy characteristics of three olive cultivars (‘Koroneiki’, ‘Biancolilla’ and ‘Calatina’), planted at three different planting distanc…