Precision agriculture using drones: Horticultural sector in the Ribera del Ebro

Drone by Drone has carried out a practical case of drilling precision agriculture for one of its clients in the Ribera del Alto Ebro, specifically in the town of Sartaguda, in Navarra.

Unlike the work that the operating company of drones has been doing on the wine sector, in this case the challenge has been greater, since it is a plantation of apple trees of the variety Pink Lady with installation of nets for hailstone. The difficulty has been that the anti-hail nets have been spread in part of the surface of the crop, while in another part of the crop were collected.

The work has been used to validate the acquisition of aerial data using drones equipped with multispectral cameras, such as Parrot Sequoia, with extended anti-hail or anti-bird networks, and can compare the results between different zones.

The cultivar area of ​​the Pink Lady apple variety covers a total of 6Ha, making the flights during the pre-harvest stage of the fruits, in autumn, in order to be able to propose a selective harvest depending on the degree of ripening of the fruits. In addition, the surface has Golden apple trees that mature before, reason why the multispectral cameras capture this detail with total clarity.

Sensefly drones have been used, both the eBee Ag with the NIR camera and the eBee SQ with the Parrot Sequoia. Both drones are specialized in acquiring aerial data for precision agriculture allowing to fly over how much surface is due to its airplane type configuration.

The results are totally enlightening. Both the data captured by the multispectral cameras of the drones with the anti-hail nets and those captured on the free surface yield the same results. It is determined, therefore, that anti-hail networks do not impede the capture of aerial data through multispectral cameras.

The practical case involved the achievement of reflectance maps of the NDVI index and the PRI Index to measure the vigor of the apple trees and the hydrological stress of the same.

The crop analyzed has the peculiarity of having an irrigation system, so in this case, the hydraulic stress comes to determine relevant data for its correct adjustment and optimization, in order to achieve water savings while maintaining the same levels of productivity .

In the attached files, the reflectance maps of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the PRI (Photochemical Reflectance Index) index can be visualized.

It can be seen how the zones with and without the network have the same or similar values ​​in the reflectance maps, allowing to ensure that the possible differences between the parts of the crop analyzed are not due to the presence of anti-hail meshes.

In addition, following all logic, the apple trees of the Golden variety have less vigor, since the tree has fulfilled its productive cycle before. It is clearly seen in the reflectance map of the NDVI index as these are spaced every 8 rows of Pink Lady apple trees.

It is a very homogenous crop, with very few differences between all rows of apple trees, although the NDVI index appreciates a greater vigor of the trees that are more to the south, right in the zone where the irrigation system begins.

Drones are a perfect tool for cases where data collection is complex, as this study shows.

Our thanks to Sensefly and Tecnitop for allowing us to have the latest drone technology, and to be able to squeeze them to the maximum under the most difficult conditions. Both the Sensefly eBee Ag and the eBee SQ did their job perfectly.

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