Estimate and Temporal Monitoring of Height and Diameter of the Canopy of Recently Transplanted Coffee by a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System

Abstract

Digital agriculture is fundamental to potential improvements in the field by optimizing processes and providing intelligent decision making. This study aims to calculate the height and canopy diameter of recently transplanted coffee plants over three periods of crop development using aerial images, verify statistical differences between field measurements and aerial images, estimate linear equations between field data and aerial images, and monitor the temporal profile of the growth and development of the cultivar understudy in the field based on information extracted from aerial images through a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS). The study area comprises a recently transplanted five-month-old Coffea arabica L. cultivar IAC J10 with information of height and crown diameter collected in the field and aerial images obtained by RPAS. As a result, it was possible to calculate the height and diameter of the canopy of coffee plants by aerial images obtained by RPAS. The linear estimation equation for height and crown diameter was determined with satisfactory results by coefficients R and R² and performance metrics MAE, RMSE, and regression residuals, and it was possible to monitor the temporal profile of the height of the coffee cultivar in the field based on aerial images.

UAV-Based Vegetation Indices to Evaluate Coffee Crop Response after Transplanting Seedlings Grown in Different Containers

“…In this study, this fact was not a limiting factor since the objective was to characterize the variations over time and observe the existing correlations between the variables studied. Other studies also conducted monitoring and evaluation of plant response over time and did not observe problems with autocorrelation in the analysis [19,70]. In future studies, especially those with long time series that require temporal analysis, the use of autocorrelation analysis may be necessary and recommended.…”

Coffee Growing with Remotely Piloted Aircraft System: Bibliometric Review

“…Martello et al [57] explored visible aerial images to obtain 3D information on coffee crops, including plant height, volume, and productivity data over three harvests in a commercial production area. Bento et al [58] calculated the height and canopy diameter of newly transplanted coffee plants at three development periods, observed statistical differences between field measurements and aerial images, estimated linear equations between field data and aerial images, and monitored the temporal profile of growth and development of the studied cultivar in the field based on information extracted from aerial images using RPASs, with significant results compared to actual field data. Santos et al [59] aimed to identify which vegetation indices adequately explained plant chlorophyll and evaluated the relationships between vegetation indices obtained from RPAS images and leaf and canopy chlorophyll in coffee plants during the rainy and dry seasons.…”

Mapping Soil and Pasture Attributes for Buffalo Management through Remote Sensing and Geostatistics in Amazon Biome

“…Combined with remote sensing information, grass biomass and variability measurements within the production field through precision agriculture technologies have been continuously explored [ 28 , 29 ]. These technologies can provide short-term estimates of culture biophysical characteristics [ 30 , 31 ]. The use of spectral information obtained from orbital images to detect changes in canopy structure is a well-established technology [ 32 ].…”