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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Carbon consumption of developing fruit and the fruit bearing capacity of individual RoHo 3615 and Pinova apple trees
    (Lublin : IA PAS, 2020) Penzel, Martin; Lakso, Alan Neil; Tsoulias, Nikos; Zude-Sasse, Manuela
    This paper describes an approach to estimate the photosynthetic capacity and derive the optimum fruit number for each individual tree, in order to achieve a defined fruit size, which is named as the fruit bearing capacity of the tree. The estimation of fruit bearing capacity was carried out considering the total leaf area per tree as measured with a 2-D LiDAR laser scanner, LALiDAR, and key carbon-related variables of the trees including leaf gas exchange, fruit growth and respiration, in two commercial apple orchards. The range between minLALiDAR and maxLALiDAR was found to be 2.4 m on Pinova and 4.3 m on RoHo 3615 at fully developed canopy. The daily C requirement of the growing fruit and the associated leaf area demand, necessary to meet the average daily fruit C requirements showed seasonal variation, with maximum values in the middle of the growing period. The estimated fruit bearing capacity ranged from 33-95 fruit tree-1 and 45-121 fruit tree-1 on the trees of Pinova and RoHo 3615, respectively. This finding demonstrates sub-optimal crop load at harvest time in both orchards, above or below the fruit bearing capacity for individual trees. In conclusion, the LiDAR measurements of the leaf area combined with a carbon balance model allows for the estimation of fruit bearing capacity for individual trees for precise crop load management. © 2020 Polish Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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    Estimation of Vegetative Growth in Strawberry Plants Using Mobile LiDAR Laser Scanner
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Saha, Kowshik Kumar; Tsoulias, Nikos; Weltzien, Cornelia; Zude-Sasse, Manuela
    Monitoring of plant vegetative growth can provide the basis for precise crop manage-ment. In this study, a 2D light detection and ranging (LiDAR) laser scanner, mounted on a linear conveyor, was used to acquire multi-temporal three-dimensional (3D) data from strawberry plants (‘Honeoye’ and ‘Malling Centenary’) 14–77 days after planting (DAP). Canopy geometrical variables, i.e., points per plant, height, ground projected area, and canopy volume profile, were extracted from 3D point cloud. The manually measured leaf area exhibited a linear relationship with LiDAR-derived parameters (R2 = 0.98, 0.90, 0.93, and 0.96 with number of points per plant, volume, height, and projected canopy area, respectively). However, the measuring uncertainty was high in the dense canopies. Particularly, the canopy volume estimation was adapted to the plant habitus to remove gaps and empty spaces in the canopy point cloud. The parametric values for maximum point to point distance (Dmax) = 0.15 cm and slice height (S) = 0.10 cm resulted in R2 = 0.80 and RMSPE = 26.93% for strawberry plant volume estimation considering actual volume measured by water displacement. The vertical volume profiling provided growth data for cultivars ‘Honeoye’ and ‘Malling Centenary’ being 51.36 cm3 at 77 DAP and 42.18 cm3 at 70 DAP, respectively. The results contribute an approach for estimating plant geometrical features and particularly strawberry canopy volume profile based on LiDAR point cloud for tracking plant growth.
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    Seasonal changes in dendrometer-derived stem variation in apple trees grown in temperate climate
    (Lublin : IA PAS, 2022) Rezaei, Yousef; Zude-Sasse, Manuela; Herppich, Werner
    Studies of daily changes in tree trunk diameter provide valuable information concerning growth patterns and their relationships with varying environmental conditions. To date, very few experiments with fruit trees evaluated the effects of climate variation on trunk shrinkage and the duration of the contraction and recovery phases and of growth. In this study, electronic dendrometers continuously monitored trunk diameter and trunk water storage dynamics of drip-irrigated ‘Gala’ apple trees (Malus x domestica Borkh.) during three growing seasons, which differed significantly in temperature, precipitation, air humidity and solar irradiation. It was found that trunk diameter and meteorological variables were closely related, even when excluding the effects of soil water limitations. During each growing season, the durations of the daily contraction phase began to increase with increasing water vapour partial pressure deficit, and decreased again in autumn, when vapour partial pressure decreased. Throughout the season, the duration of the growth phase tended to change inversely to that of both contraction and recovery phase. The relationship between maximum trunk shrinkage and vapour partial pressure was higher post than pre harvest for all years studied. The duration of contraction, recovery, and growth phases may provide valuable information concerning seasonal changes and environmental drivers of water storage dynamics in apple trees.
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    In-situ fruit analysis by means of LiDAR 3D point cloud of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2023) Tsoulias, Nikos; Saha, Kowshik Kumar; Zude-Sasse, Manuela
    A feasible method to analyse fruit at the tree is requested in precise production management. The employment of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) was approached aimed at measuring the number of fruit, quality-related size, and ripeness-related chlorophyll of fruit skin. During fruit development (65 – 130 day after full bloom, DAFB), apples were harvested and analysed in the laboratory (n = 225) with two LiDAR laser scanners measuring at 660 and 905 nm. From these two 3D point clouds, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVILiDAR) was calculated. The correlation analysis of NDVILiDAR and chemically analysed fruit chlorophyll content showed R2 = 0.81 and RMSE = 3.63 % on the last measuring date, when fruit size reached 76 mm. The method was tested on 3D point clouds of 12 fruit trees measured directly in the orchard, during fruit growth on five measuring dates, and validated with manual fruit analysis in the orchard (n = 4632). Point clouds of individual apples were segmented from 3D point clouds of trees and fruit NDVILiDAR were calculated. The non-invasively obtained field data showed good calibration performance capturing number of fruit, fruit size, fruit NDVILiDAR, and chemically analysed chlorophyll content of R2 = 0.99, R2 = 0.98 with RMSE = 3.02 %, R2 = 0.65 with RMSE = 0.65 %, R2 = 0.78 with RMSE = 1.31 %, respectively, considering the related reference data at last measuring date 130 DAFB. The new approach of non-invasive laser scanning provided physiologically and agronomically valuable time series data on differences in fruit chlorophyll affected by the leaf area to number of fruit and leaf area to fruit fresh mass ratios. Concluding, the method provides a tool for gaining production-relevant plant data for, e.g., crop load management and selective harvesting by harvest robots.
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    Application of Absorption and Scattering Properties Obtained through Image Pre-Classification Method Using a Laser Backscattering Imaging System to Detect Kiwifruit Chilling Injury
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2021) Yang, Zhuo; Li, Mo; East, Andrew R.; Zude-Sasse, Manuela
    Kiwifruit chilling injury (CI) damage occurs after long-term exposure to low temperature. A non-destructive approach to detect CI injury was tested in the present study, using a laser backscattering image (LBI) technique calibrated with 56 liquid phantoms for providing absorption coefficient (µa) and reduced scattering coefficient (µs’). Calibration of LBI resulted in a true-positive (TP) classification of 91.5% and 65.6% of predicted µs’ and µa, respectively. The optical properties of ‘SunGold™’and ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit were analysed at 520 nm with a two-step protocol capturing pre-classification according to the LBI parameters used in the calibration and estimation with the Farrell equation. Severely injured kiwifruit showed white corky tissue and water soaking, reduced soluble solids content and firmness measured destructively. Non-destructive classification results for ‘SunGold™’ showed a high percentage of TP for severe CI of 92% and 75% using LBI parameters directly and predicted µa and µs’ after pre-classification, respectively. The classification accuracy for severe CI ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit with LBI parameter was low (58%) and with µa and µs’ decreased further (35%), which was assumed to be due to interference caused by the long trichomes on the fruit surface.
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    Visible-NIR ‘point’ spectroscopy in postharvest fruit and vegetable assessment: The science behind three decades of commercial use
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2020) Walsh, Kerry B.; Blasco, José; Zude-Sasse, Manuela; Sun, Xudong
    The application of visible (Vis; 400–750 nm) and near infrared red (NIR; 750–2500 nm) region spectroscopy to assess fruit and vegetables is reviewed in context of ‘point’ spectroscopy, as opposed to multi- or hyperspectral imaging. Vis spectroscopy targets colour assessment and pigment analysis, while NIR spectroscopy has been applied to assessment of macro constituents (principally water) in fresh produce in commercial practice, and a wide range of attributes in the scientific literature. This review focusses to key issues relevant to the widespread implementation of Vis-NIR technology in the fruit sector. A background to the concepts and technology involved in the use of Vis-NIR spectroscopy is provided and instrumentation for in-field and in-line applications, which has been available for two and three decades, respectively, is described. A review of scientific effort is made for the period 2015 - February 2020, in terms of the application areas, instrumentation, chemometric methods and validation procedures, and this work is critiqued through comparison to techniques in commercial use, with focus to wavelength region, optical geometry, experimental design, and validation procedures. Recommendations for future research activity in this area are made, e.g., application development with consideration of the distribution of the attribute of interest in the product and the matching of optically sampled and reference method sampled volume; instrumentation comparisons with consideration of repeatability, optimum optical geometry and wavelength range). Recommendations are also made for reporting requirements, viz. description of the application, the reference method, the composition of calibration and test populations, chemometric reporting and benchmarking to a known instrument/method, with the aim of maximising useful conclusions from the extensive work being done around the world.