Articles
Crop water stress sensing for improved management in orchards and vineyards
Article number
1395_1
Pages
1 – 6
Language
English
Abstract
Accurate assessment of crop water stress and overall water status is a prerequisite in precision agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid areas that often face water scarcity.
In this scenario, water management is essential for the sustainability of irrigated systems.
Remote sensing has become the main avenue for developing tools for assessing crop water status and managing agricultural inputs over large areas.
Thermal-derived indices are particularly suitable for determining crop water status because of the close relationship between canopy temperature and transpiration.
The case of orchards and vines is particularly challenging, given that discontinuous canopies require high spatial resolution to isolate vegetation from background soil.
Despite this, developing tools to manage water in these crops is especially relevant as permanent crops, in most cases, require watering to ensure survival.
Several sensors and methodologies are currently available to help assess water status.
These sensors will be reviewed, highlighting their pros and cons.
The algorithms and methods developed for orchards and vineyards must consider the architectural features as they affect the interactions of the canopy with the atmosphere.
Tall and rough canopies with complex architectures, such as these crops, are well-coupled with the atmosphere.
Thus, the transpiration proceeds at the imposed rate and responds significantly to changes in stomatal conductance and VPD. The consequences of this effect on crop water stress sensing and water management will be considered.
The relevance of ETo as a suitable measure of the evaporative demand in these crops will be discussed, together with the significance of the measurement error in the computation of water stress indices.
In this scenario, water management is essential for the sustainability of irrigated systems.
Remote sensing has become the main avenue for developing tools for assessing crop water status and managing agricultural inputs over large areas.
Thermal-derived indices are particularly suitable for determining crop water status because of the close relationship between canopy temperature and transpiration.
The case of orchards and vines is particularly challenging, given that discontinuous canopies require high spatial resolution to isolate vegetation from background soil.
Despite this, developing tools to manage water in these crops is especially relevant as permanent crops, in most cases, require watering to ensure survival.
Several sensors and methodologies are currently available to help assess water status.
These sensors will be reviewed, highlighting their pros and cons.
The algorithms and methods developed for orchards and vineyards must consider the architectural features as they affect the interactions of the canopy with the atmosphere.
Tall and rough canopies with complex architectures, such as these crops, are well-coupled with the atmosphere.
Thus, the transpiration proceeds at the imposed rate and responds significantly to changes in stomatal conductance and VPD. The consequences of this effect on crop water stress sensing and water management will be considered.
The relevance of ETo as a suitable measure of the evaporative demand in these crops will be discussed, together with the significance of the measurement error in the computation of water stress indices.
Authors
V. Gonzalez-Dugo
Keywords
high-resolution remote sensing, thermal, CWSI, hyperspectral, coupling, omega factor
Groups involved
- Division Temperate Tree Nuts
- Division Vine and Berry Fruits
- Division Temperate Tree Fruits
- Division Precision Horticulture and Engineering
- Division Plant-Environment Interactions in Field Systems
- Division Tropical and Subtropical Fruit and Nuts
- Working Group Precision Management of Orchards and Vineyards
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