In plant breeding, one of the biggest obstacles in genetic improvement is the lack of proven rapid methods for measuring plant responses in field conditions. Therefore, the major objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing high-throughput remote sensing technology for rapid measurement of phenotyping traits in legume crops. The plant responses of several chickpea and peas varieties to the environment were assessed with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) integrated with multispectral imaging sensors. Our preliminary assessment showed that the vegetation indices are strongly correlated (p<0.05) with seed yield of legume crops. Results endorse the potential of UAS-based sensing technology to rapidly measure those phenotyping traits.

Date Published: 17 May 2016
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9866, Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping, 98660G (17 May 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2228550

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9866:
Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping
John Valasek; J. Alex Thomasson, Editor(s)