Remote and Proximal Sensing Applications for Durum Wheat Nutritional Status Detection in Mediterranean Area

Marco Fiorentini, Stefano Zenobi and Roberto Orsini
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Marco Fiorentini: Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (D3A), Agronomy and Crop Science Section, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Stefano Zenobi: Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (D3A), Agronomy and Crop Science Section, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Roberto Orsini: Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (D3A), Agronomy and Crop Science Section, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Combining remote and proximal sensing in agriculture is essential to monitor crop spatial-temporal variability and to provide high-quality prescription maps for the precision agriculture applications. The study showed how different combinations of soil management (no tillage—NT vs. conventional tillage—CT) and nitrogen (N) fertilization levels (0.90 and 180 kg N ha −1 ) can affect the durum wheat nutritional status and development through vegetation indices computation and proximal sensing tool application. Chlorophyll and N crop content were measured, in addition a proximal sensing tool and multispectral imagery equipped on unmanned aerial vehicle were used. The N input is the key driver for durum wheat development (4.5 ± 0.92 t ha −1 on average), but when it was not provided the NT performed better than CT (2.51 ± 0.22 vs. 1.46 ± 0.28 t ha −1 respectively) in terms of grain yield. This is due to the greater content of organic matter and N availability which characterizes the NT system. The near infrared (NIR) band-based vegetation indices can well detect the durum wheat nutritional status (R 2 = 0.70 on average). The showed results can provide an important contribution in the implementation of ago-environmental policies aimed at environmental impact of cereal-based-cropping systems reduction.

Keywords: durum wheat; no-tillage; precision agriculture; remote sensing; proximal sensing; vegetation indices; nitrogen fertilization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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