Management of Citrus Orchards in Central India using Geospatial Technology

Abstract

AbstractCitrus fruits rank third in production after banana and mango in India. It is grown in 1.04 million ha covering 26 states. Citrus is grown in subtropical climates of the world though in tropical zones they incline for cyclic growth. Citrus productivity in the country is negatively affected by various biotic and abiotic factors as well as management practices. Citrus farming is overwhelmed with numerous constraints due to restrictive growing conditions, scarcity of water, and frequent pests, and diseases. The geospatial technique is a tool to address the growth limiting factors of citrus orchards, including biotic, abiotic, edaphic stress efficiently. Advanced geospatial technology is being largely used for mapping and area estimation of citrus orchards using object-based classification and machine learning approaches. Another vital area where geospatial technology is being used widely is identifying the health status of the citrus orchards, which greatly impacts the overall productivity of the citrus in the country. Apart from the physiological stress, the biotic stress created due to the disease and pest is yet another significant area where multispectral and hyperspectral RS are being widely used. Expanding the area under horticulture is an important objective under the national horticulture mission. In this respect, identifying new suitable areas for growing citrus is an important requirement. RS technology and GIS play a substantial role in the systematic characterization, assessment of several factors that impact the cultivation of citrus orchards and integrated modeling to finally identify a potential area for citrus orchards. This chapter discusses the implementations of geospatial techniques for managing citrus orchards covering various aspects mentioned above.KeywordsCitrus orchardsRemote sensingCitrus site suitabilityBiotic stressAbiotic stress