Abstract
A comparison of three different methods to evaluate the tree row volume (TRV) of a super-high-density olive orchard is presented in this article. The purpose was to validate the suitability of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and 3D modeling techniques with respect to manual and traditional methods of TRV detection. The use of UAV photogrammetry can reduce the amount of estimated biomass and, therefore, reduce the volume of pesticides to be used in the field by means of more accurate prescription maps. The presented comparison of methodologies was performed on an adult super-high-density olive orchard, planted with a density of 1660 trees per hectare. The first method (TRV1) was based on close-range photogrammetry from UAVs, the second (TRV2) was based on manual in situ measurements, and the third (TRV3) was based on a formula from the literature. The comparisons of TRV2-TRV1 and TRV3-TRV1 showed an average value of the difference equal to +13% (max: +65%; min: −11%) and +24% (max: +58%; min: +5%), respectively. The results show that the TRV1 method has high accuracy in predicting TRV with minor working time expenditure, and the only limitation is that professionally skilled personnel is required.
Highlights
Super-high-density (SHD) olive cropping systems represent a very interesting proposal for olive oil orchard profitability because they considerably reduce production costs, thanks to full mechanization from planting to harvesting, and provide higher, more constant crop levels
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for exact cultivation detection from 3D point cloud maps [6] and digital surface models (DSMs) [7], which are generated from multispectral imagery, has accelerated the extrapolation of valuable information for the optimal management of sustainable agriculture
It should be pointed out that the TRV3 calculated in this paper is very precise, considering that all the dimensions used in Formula (2) were derived from the averages of the biometric parameters of 10 trees per row; in traditional practice, it is taken as a reference for the calculation of the TRV3 of a single pair of trees per hectare, which produces an estimated value that is very far from the true value
Summary
Super-high-density (SHD) olive cropping systems represent a very interesting proposal for olive oil orchard profitability because they considerably reduce production costs, thanks to full mechanization from planting to harvesting, and provide higher, more constant crop levels. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for exact cultivation detection from 3D point cloud maps [6] and digital surface models (DSMs) [7], which are generated from multispectral imagery, has accelerated the extrapolation of valuable information for the optimal management of sustainable agriculture. Precision agriculture has been used in other agronomic practices, such as estimating height [12], tree biomass [13,14,15,16,17], fruit tree crop, pollination, and pruning and harvesting amount, as well as for disease detection [18] The use of these very new technologies has aroused greater environmental awareness and attention to human health for both consumers and fruit growers, along with awareness of the economic costs of treatment for farmers.
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