The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS
The estimation of crop yield is a compelling and highly relevant task in the scenario of the challenging climate change we are facing. With this aim, a reinterpretation and a simplification of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) fundamentals are presented to calculate the fresh biomass of fo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Drones |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/6/347 |
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| author | Nilda Sánchez Javier Plaza Marco Criado Rodrigo Pérez-Sánchez M. Ángeles Gómez-Sánchez M. Remedios Morales-Corts Carlos Palacios |
| author_facet | Nilda Sánchez Javier Plaza Marco Criado Rodrigo Pérez-Sánchez M. Ángeles Gómez-Sánchez M. Remedios Morales-Corts Carlos Palacios |
| author_sort | Nilda Sánchez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The estimation of crop yield is a compelling and highly relevant task in the scenario of the challenging climate change we are facing. With this aim, a reinterpretation and a simplification of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) fundamentals are presented to calculate the fresh biomass of forage crops. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) series observed from a multispectral camera on board an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) was the basis for the estimation. Eight fields in Spain of different rainfed intercropping forages were flown over simultaneously, with eight field measurements from February to June 2020. The second derivative applied to the NDVI time series determined the key points of the growing cycle, whereas the NDVI values themselves were integrated and multiplied by a standardized value of the normalized water productivity (<i>WP</i>*). The scalability of the method was tested using two scales of the NDVI values: the point scale (at the precise field measurement location) and the plot scale (mean of 400 m<sup>2</sup>). The resulting fresh biomass and, therefore, the proposal were validated against a dataset of field-observed benchmarks during the field campaign. The agreement between the estimated and the observed fresh biomass afforded a very good prediction in terms of the determination coefficient (R<sup>2</sup>, that ranged from 0.17 to 0.85) and the agreement index (AI, that ranged from 0.55 to 0.90), with acceptable estimation errors between 10 and 30%. The best period to estimate fresh biomass was found to be between the second fortnight of April and the first fortnight of May. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:34:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d6c0848c8f9a4af98a4e62c65772053f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-446X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:34:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Drones |
| spelling | doaj.art-d6c0848c8f9a4af98a4e62c65772053f2023-11-18T10:03:49ZengMDPI AGDrones2504-446X2023-05-017634710.3390/drones7060347The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UASNilda Sánchez0Javier Plaza1Marco Criado2Rodrigo Pérez-Sánchez3M. Ángeles Gómez-Sánchez4M. Remedios Morales-Corts5Carlos Palacios6Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Avenida Filiberto Villalobos, 119, 37007 Salamanca, SpainThe estimation of crop yield is a compelling and highly relevant task in the scenario of the challenging climate change we are facing. With this aim, a reinterpretation and a simplification of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) fundamentals are presented to calculate the fresh biomass of forage crops. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) series observed from a multispectral camera on board an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) was the basis for the estimation. Eight fields in Spain of different rainfed intercropping forages were flown over simultaneously, with eight field measurements from February to June 2020. The second derivative applied to the NDVI time series determined the key points of the growing cycle, whereas the NDVI values themselves were integrated and multiplied by a standardized value of the normalized water productivity (<i>WP</i>*). The scalability of the method was tested using two scales of the NDVI values: the point scale (at the precise field measurement location) and the plot scale (mean of 400 m<sup>2</sup>). The resulting fresh biomass and, therefore, the proposal were validated against a dataset of field-observed benchmarks during the field campaign. The agreement between the estimated and the observed fresh biomass afforded a very good prediction in terms of the determination coefficient (R<sup>2</sup>, that ranged from 0.17 to 0.85) and the agreement index (AI, that ranged from 0.55 to 0.90), with acceptable estimation errors between 10 and 30%. The best period to estimate fresh biomass was found to be between the second fortnight of April and the first fortnight of May.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/6/347fresh biomassNDVIsecond derivativeUASAquaCropintercropping |
| spellingShingle | Nilda Sánchez Javier Plaza Marco Criado Rodrigo Pérez-Sánchez M. Ángeles Gómez-Sánchez M. Remedios Morales-Corts Carlos Palacios The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS Drones fresh biomass NDVI second derivative UAS AquaCrop intercropping |
| title | The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS |
| title_full | The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS |
| title_fullStr | The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS |
| title_short | The Second Derivative of the NDVI Time Series as an Estimator of Fresh Biomass: A Case Study of Eight Forage Associations Monitored via UAS |
| title_sort | second derivative of the ndvi time series as an estimator of fresh biomass a case study of eight forage associations monitored via uas |
| topic | fresh biomass NDVI second derivative UAS AquaCrop intercropping |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/6/347 |
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