Articles
Use of satellite images to estimate olive production
Article number
1433_28
Pages
217 – 226
Language
English
Abstract
Accurate and timely estimation of olive productivity is crucial in the olive growing industry, representing a tool for improving profitability and ensuring sustainable farming practices.
This study aimed to assess the feasibility of several vegetation indices (VIs) in estimating olive fruit production.
It was conducted on three commercial olive orchards, with different cultivars (‘Verdeal Transmontana’, ‘Madural’ and ‘Cobrançosa’), located in northeastern Portugal.
Different irrigation strategies were imposed, including full irrigation, sustained deficit irrigation and regulated deficit irrigation.
Using multispectral data with a 10-m resolution obtained from Sentinel-2 throughout 2019 (from May to December), VIs were computed to examine trends among them, showing a gradual decline in values up to the harvest date.
Furthermore, the one-year results revealed distinguished discrepancies in production estimates derived from VIs across different cultivars. ‘Cobrançosa’ showed the best relationship between VIs and olive fruit production, with a strong positive linear relationship (R2>0.8) from early August to mid-October, with peak correlation observed in the third week of August (R2=0.93) when using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Through the combination of data from all the three cultivars, several indices were able to perform effectively in production estimation from May to November.
Although these findings are preliminary, they suggest a promising use of VIs for early estimation of olive orchard production.
This study aimed to assess the feasibility of several vegetation indices (VIs) in estimating olive fruit production.
It was conducted on three commercial olive orchards, with different cultivars (‘Verdeal Transmontana’, ‘Madural’ and ‘Cobrançosa’), located in northeastern Portugal.
Different irrigation strategies were imposed, including full irrigation, sustained deficit irrigation and regulated deficit irrigation.
Using multispectral data with a 10-m resolution obtained from Sentinel-2 throughout 2019 (from May to December), VIs were computed to examine trends among them, showing a gradual decline in values up to the harvest date.
Furthermore, the one-year results revealed distinguished discrepancies in production estimates derived from VIs across different cultivars. ‘Cobrançosa’ showed the best relationship between VIs and olive fruit production, with a strong positive linear relationship (R2>0.8) from early August to mid-October, with peak correlation observed in the third week of August (R2=0.93) when using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Through the combination of data from all the three cultivars, several indices were able to perform effectively in production estimation from May to November.
Although these findings are preliminary, they suggest a promising use of VIs for early estimation of olive orchard production.
Authors
P. Marques, L. Pádua, A.A. Fernandes-Silva
Keywords
Olea europaea L., precision agriculture, Sentinel-2, vegetation indices, production estimation
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