Olive Actual “on Year” Yield Forecast Tool Based on the Tree Canopy Geometry Using UAS Imagery
Autor
Sola Guirado, Rafael Rubén
Castillo-Ruiz, Francisco J.
Jiménez Jiménez, Francisco
Blanco Roldán, Gregorio L.
Gil Ribes, Jesús
Castro García, Sergio
Editor
MDPIFecha
2017Materia
Olive treeProduction forecast
Manual canopy volume
Individual crown area
Tree mapping
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Olive has a notable importance in countries of Mediterranean basin and its profitability
depends on several factors such as actual yield, production cost or product price. Actual “on
year” Yield (AY) is production (kg tree-1) in “on years”, and this research attempts to relate it with
geometrical parameters of the tree canopy. Regression equation to forecast AY based on manual
canopy volume was determined based on data acquired from different orchard categories and
cultivars during different harvesting seasons in southern Spain. Orthoimages were acquired with
unmanned aerial systems (UAS) imagery calculating individual crown for relating to canopy volume
and AY. Yield levels did not vary between orchard categories; however, it did between irrigated
orchards (7000–17,000 kg ha-1) and rainfed ones (4000–7000 kg ha-1). After that, manual canopy
volume was related with the individual crown area of trees that were calculated by orthoimages
acquired with UAS imagery. Finally, AY was forecasted using both manual canopy volume and
individual tree crown area as main factors for olive productivity. AY forecast only by using individual
crown area made it possible to get a simple and cheap forecast tool for a wide range of olive orchards.
Finally, the acquired information was introduced in a thematic map describing spatial AY variability
obtained from orthoimage analysis that may be a powerful tool for farmers, insurance systems,
market forecasts or to detect agronomical problems.