Towards Automated Detection of

Stress in Tree Fruit Production

J. Park, H. Ngugi, M. Glenn, J.
Kim & B. Lehman

The CIA monitors world-wide,

agricultural production with
satellite-based, remote sensing.
During the Cold War, the U.S.
used this information in the sale
of wheat to Russia

World food production is

monitored to anticipate
governmental instability as well
as markets.
From a global scale to a farm
scale, this technology can be
used to improve grower
productivity.

Potential applications of monitoring

technology in tree fruit production
Detection of tree stress
Moisture stress (drought or excess water)
Nutrient stress
Disease and insect stress

Estimation of expected yield

Any other use?

Sensor technology for use in

tree fruit production

All sensor-based systems rely on reflected light from

a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS)

Reflection spectrum of apple leaves

100
90

well watered

stressed

80
Reduced water content

60
50

40

Visible light

Near Infra-red radiation

30
20

Changes in chlorophyll activity

10
0
400
424
447
471
494
518
541
565
588
612
635
659
682
706
729
753
776
800
823
847
870
894
917
941
964
988

Reflection (%)

70

Wavelength (nm)

Types of sensors being evaluated

in the CASC project
Thermal
cameras
NDVI sensors
Hyperspectral
cameras
Color cameras

Detecting fire blight in orchards

Bacterial disease caused by Erwinia amylovor

Often leads to death in young trees

Factors determining successful

fire blight management
Once infection occurs, successful
management depends on:
Early detection
Application of appropriate control measures
such as cutting out infected shoots
Continued monitoring

All the factors point to the need for

regular scouting!

Options for
scouting orchards
for fire blight

Current CASC Project Research

Identification and evaluation of suitable
sensors for automated detection
Preliminary detection experiments
Can we detect fire blight with sensors?
How early can we detect lesions?

Development of detection algorithms

Potential rapid detection systems

for fire blight
Biological-based detection systems
Molecular-based techniques
Can be quite rapid

Main challenge is sampling (very large numbers

of samples)

How many shoots (all a potential infection sites)

Destructive sampling
Would be very labor-intensive with current technology
Currently restricted to confirming pathogen identity

Potential rapid detection systems

for fire blight cont.
Sensor-based detection systems
Rely on sensors to detect plant response to infection

No destructive sampling or sample preparation

Can be as rapid as real-time
Can cover a large area over a short time

Main challenge: the right sensors and developing

the detection algorithms

This is the approach followed in the CASC project

Sensors evaluated for blight detection

700 nm

Detection of fire blight with

hyperspectral sensor
Target for early detection:
<10 cm of diseased tissue
(~7 days after infection)
Inoculated plants in the
green house at: 14, 10, 7, 4
and 2 d before image
acquisition

Hyperspectral images 300

to 1100 m

700 nm

Detection of fire blight with

hyperspectral sensor

Sensors mounted on the APM

What we hope to accomplish

Detection of diseased shoots within 7
days after infection for fire blight
No more than 1-3 leaves have visible
symptoms for virulent strains
Over 85% accuracy rate

Detection of other types of stress

Develop a database that to help identify
causes of tree stress

Acknowledgments