Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technological Applications for Site-specific Management of Fruit and Nut Crops: A Review

Abstract

Site-specific crop management (SSCM) is one facet of precision agriculture which is helping increase production with minimal input. It has enhanced the cost-benefit scenario in crop production. Even though the SSCM is very widely used in row crop agriculture like corn, wheat, rice, soybean, etc. it has very little application in cash crops like fruit and nut. The main goal of this review paper was to conduct a comprehensive review of advanced technologies, including geospatial technologies, used in site-specific management of fruit and nut crops. The review explores various remote sensing data from different platforms like satellite, LIDAR, aerial, and field imaging. The study analyzes the use of satellite sensors, such as Quickbird, Landsat, SPOT, and IRS imagery as well as hyperspectral narrow-band remote sensing data in study of fruit and nut crops in blueberry, citrus, peach, apple, etc. The study also explores other geospatial technologies such as GPS, GIS spatial modeling, advanced image processing techniques, and information technology for suitability study, orchard delineation, and classification accuracy assessment. The study also provides an example of a geospatial model developed in ArcGIS ModelBuilder to automate the blueberry production suitability analysis. The GIS spatial model is developed using various crop characteristics such as chilling hours, soil permeability, drainage, and pH, and land cover to determine the best sites for growing OPEN ACCESSRemote Sensing 2010, 2 1974 blueberry in Georgia, U.S. The study also provides a list of spectral reflectance curves developed for some fruit and nut crops, blueberry, crowberry, redblush citrus, orange, prickly pear, and peach. The study also explains these curves in detail to help researchers choose the image platform, sensor, and spectrum wavelength for various fruit and nut crops SSCM.

Ameliorative, Ecological and Landscape Roles of Făget Forest, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Possibilities of Avoiding Risks Based on GIS Landslide Susceptibility Map

“…Because the purpose of this research was to have a longterm management plan and to integrate wider range of data, all information can be correlated with each other or with other future data and statistics (Panda et al, 2010). Future focus and development will be mainly on system maintenance, including system enhancement and upgrading rather than to create a new system.…”

Remote Sensing and Cropping Practices: A Review

“…Peña-Barragan et al [36] showed that multispectral imagery is suitable to discriminate cover crops from olive trees and to estimate olive tree surface with good accuracy (92%). Panda et al [37] reviewed several techniques used in fruit and nut crop management and described the methods used to differentiate orchards from other land uses, and how GIS and models can then be applied for analyses. No accurate discrimination of tree crop types has been achieved without a significant input of field knowledge.…”

Feasibility of using Cost Effective LIDAR for Precision Horticulture

“…In recent years, horticulture development is emerging as one of the major thrust area in agriculture sector in the developing countries [1]. For optimum utilization of available land resource, delineation of orchards(or horticulture in general) and spatial analysis using remote sensing can provide useful information for management and decision making for successful application of site-specific crop management, quantification and scheduling of precise and proper fertilizer, irrigation needs, application of pesticides for pest and disease management and has potential for increasing net returns and optimizing resource [2]. One of the key components of precision agriculture is data collection.…”