Estimation of Winter Wheat Nitrogen Content, Biomass and Yield using UAV Images in South Korea

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)s have a high resolution of around 10 cm, and can acquire images with lower cost when we want. The purpose of this study was to estimate the winter wheat nitrogen content, biomass and grain yield using UAV image. We collected the time series UAV aerial images at the upland and the data were compared with the wheat nitrogen contents, biomass and yield in the experimental sites. Correlation coefficient (R) between the vegetation indices (NDVI, GNDVI, RVI, GRVI, NDRE) and wheat nitrogen contents were more than 0.8 from early-April to late-April. Correlation coefficient (R) between the vegetation indices (NDVI, GNDVI, RVI, GRVI, NDRE) and wheat biomass, grain yield, and crude protein were from 0.7 to 0.8 from early-April to late-April. Using these results, we were able to make the distribution map of the wheat nitrogen, biomass and yield. In the future, it will be necessary to study to recommend supplemental fertilization to ensure the wheat yield using UAV images information