Traits Estimation of the Endophyte Treatment for Cotton Using Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Data

Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and sensor technology made it possible to collect fine spatial and high temporal resolutions data previously unobtainable from traditional remote sensing platforms throughout the growing season. Advanced UAS data offers a great opportunity for high-throughput phenotyping and precision agriculture applications. We used a rotorcraft UASs to collect RGB (natural color) and multi-spectral data including near-infrared and red-edge to estimate the traits of endophyte treatment in cotton fields. It has been observed that endophyte treatment enhances early vegetative vigor and influence crop maturity. The RGB and multi-spectral imagery were processed using Agisoft Photoscan Pro software to generate Digital Surface Model (DSM) and orthomosaic images. The diverse features such as vegetation index, canopy cover, and blooming rate were extracted from the processed UAS data for each variety. This study will compare the characteristics of endophyte treatment in several cotton cultivars. A model to estimate resulting cotton yield for the various treatments will be also presented.