Fruit yield estimation through multispectral imaging

Abstract

Recent advances in spectral imaging technology have enabled the development of models that estimate various crop parameters from spectral imagery data. The present research investigated the alternate bearing dynamics as well as the estimation of fruit yield in citrus crops using multispectral imaging technology. Canopy features of individual trees were extracted from the multispectral images and were then used to relate to the fruit yield of citrus trees through various modelling techniques. Results showed that the alternate bearing behaves more significantly in terms of the fruit density rather than the total fruit yield on individual trees. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) demonstrated greater relevance than other multiple wavebands in predicting the fruit yield on individual citrus trees. Analysis results confirmed the interrelationships between canopy features and the fruit yield of citrus crops and implied the unmatched energy allocation mechanisms between different leaf types within the canopy of citrus crops. Effective models were developed for fruit yield estimation of citrus from multispectral images acquired before the fruit-growing season.