Gracia-Romero A, Vergara-Diaz O, Thierfelder C, Cairns JE, Kefauver SC, Araus JL. 2018.Phenotyping conservation agriculture management effects on ground and aerial remote-sensing assessments of maize hybrids performance in Zimbabwe.

Remote Sensing 10, 349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10020349

Abstract: Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been recommended in sub-Saharan Africa to better manage soil health and boost crop productivity. Maize is the main staple food in SSA. To increase maize yields, the selection of suitable genotypes and management practices for CA conditions has been explored using remote sensing tools. They may play a fundamental role towards overcoming the traditional limitations of data collection and processing in large scale phenotyping studies. We present the result of a study in which Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and multispectral indexes were evaluated for assessing maize performance under conventional ploughing (CP) and CA practices. Eight hybrids under different planting densities and tillage practices were tested. The measurements were conducted on seedlings at ground level (0.8 m) and from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform (30 m). Most of the calculated indexes (Green Area (GA) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)) were significantly affected by tillage conditions increasing their values from CP to CA. The results of this study highlight the applicability of remote sensing approaches based on RGB images to the assessment of crop performance and hybrid choice.