Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images

Background The number of ears per unit ground area (ear density) is one of the main agronomic yield components in determining grain yield in wheat. A fast evaluation of this attribute may contribute to monitoring the efficiency of crop management practices, to an early prediction of grain yield or a...

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Autores: Fernández Gallego, José A., Kefauver, Shawn Carlisle, Aparicio Gutiérrez, Nieves, Nieto Taladriz, María Teresa, Araus Ortega, José Luis
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Recursos:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/134864
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/134864
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Blat
Conreus
Crops
Wheat
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spelling Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB imagesFernández Gallego, José A.Kefauver, Shawn CarlisleAparicio Gutiérrez, NievesNieto Taladriz, María TeresaAraus Ortega, José LuisBlatConreusCropsWheatBackground The number of ears per unit ground area (ear density) is one of the main agronomic yield components in determining grain yield in wheat. A fast evaluation of this attribute may contribute to monitoring the efficiency of crop management practices, to an early prediction of grain yield or as a phenotyping trait in breeding programs. Currently the number of ears is counted manually, which is time consuming. Moreover, there is no single standardized protocol for counting the ears. An automatic ear-counting algorithm is proposed to estimate ear density under field conditions based on zenithal color digital images taken from above the crop in natural light conditions. Field trials were carried out at two sites in Spain during the 2014/2015 crop season on a set of 24 varieties of durum wheat with two growing conditions per site. The algorithm for counting uses three steps: (1) a Laplacian frequency filter chosen to remove low and high frequency elements appearing in an image, (2) a Median filter to reduce high noise still present around the ears and (3) segmentation using Find Maxima to segment local peaks and determine the ear count within the image. Results The results demonstrate high success rate (higher than 90%) between the algorithm counts and the manual (image-based) ear counts, and precision, with a low standard deviation (around 5%). The relationships between algorithm ear counts and grain yield was also significant and greater than the correlation with manual (field-based) ear counts. In this approach, results demonstrate that automatic ear counting performed on data captured around anthesis correlated better with grain yield than with images captured at later stages when the low performance of ear counting at late grain filling stages was associated with the loss of contrast between canopy and ears. Conclusions Developing robust, low-cost and efficient field methods to assess wheat ear density, as a major agronomic component of yield, is highly relevant for phenotyping efforts towards increases in grain yield. Although the phenological stage of measurements is important, the robust image analysis algorithm presented here appears to be amenable from aerial or other automated platforms.BioMed Central2019201920182019info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion12 p.application/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/134864Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésReproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-018-0289-4Plant Methods, 2018, vol. 14, num. 22https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-018-0289-4cc-by (c) Fernández Gallego, Jose A. et al., 2018http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/esinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:2445/1348642026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
title Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
spellingShingle Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
Fernández Gallego, José A.
Blat
Conreus
Crops
Wheat
title_short Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
title_full Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
title_fullStr Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
title_full_unstemmed Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
title_sort Wheat ear counting in-field conditions: high throughput and low-cost approach using RGB images
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Fernández Gallego, José A.
Kefauver, Shawn Carlisle
Aparicio Gutiérrez, Nieves
Nieto Taladriz, María Teresa
Araus Ortega, José Luis
author Fernández Gallego, José A.
author_facet Fernández Gallego, José A.
Kefauver, Shawn Carlisle
Aparicio Gutiérrez, Nieves
Nieto Taladriz, María Teresa
Araus Ortega, José Luis
author_role author
author2 Kefauver, Shawn Carlisle
Aparicio Gutiérrez, Nieves
Nieto Taladriz, María Teresa
Araus Ortega, José Luis
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Blat
Conreus
Crops
Wheat
topic Blat
Conreus
Crops
Wheat
description Background The number of ears per unit ground area (ear density) is one of the main agronomic yield components in determining grain yield in wheat. A fast evaluation of this attribute may contribute to monitoring the efficiency of crop management practices, to an early prediction of grain yield or as a phenotyping trait in breeding programs. Currently the number of ears is counted manually, which is time consuming. Moreover, there is no single standardized protocol for counting the ears. An automatic ear-counting algorithm is proposed to estimate ear density under field conditions based on zenithal color digital images taken from above the crop in natural light conditions. Field trials were carried out at two sites in Spain during the 2014/2015 crop season on a set of 24 varieties of durum wheat with two growing conditions per site. The algorithm for counting uses three steps: (1) a Laplacian frequency filter chosen to remove low and high frequency elements appearing in an image, (2) a Median filter to reduce high noise still present around the ears and (3) segmentation using Find Maxima to segment local peaks and determine the ear count within the image. Results The results demonstrate high success rate (higher than 90%) between the algorithm counts and the manual (image-based) ear counts, and precision, with a low standard deviation (around 5%). The relationships between algorithm ear counts and grain yield was also significant and greater than the correlation with manual (field-based) ear counts. In this approach, results demonstrate that automatic ear counting performed on data captured around anthesis correlated better with grain yield than with images captured at later stages when the low performance of ear counting at late grain filling stages was associated with the loss of contrast between canopy and ears. Conclusions Developing robust, low-cost and efficient field methods to assess wheat ear density, as a major agronomic component of yield, is highly relevant for phenotyping efforts towards increases in grain yield. Although the phenological stage of measurements is important, the robust image analysis algorithm presented here appears to be amenable from aerial or other automated platforms.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
2019
2019
2019
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2445/134864
url https://hdl.handle.net/2445/134864
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Reproducció del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-018-0289-4
Plant Methods, 2018, vol. 14, num. 22
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-018-0289-4
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by (c) Fernández Gallego, Jose A. et al., 2018
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by (c) Fernández Gallego, Jose A. et al., 2018
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 12 p.
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Articles publicats en revistes (Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals)
reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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