Drone technology is making it easier for researchers to assess drought tolerance in genetically modified corn plants to develop new and more resilient genotypes.
Rising global temperatures and drought have seriously impacted crop production, leading scientists to expand crop breeding programs. However, evaluations under stressful conditions can be complex and costly, according to a scientific study on the topic.
In order to get around these hurdles, researchers experimented using free software and a DJI Mavic 3M drone equipped with both red-green-blue (RGB) and multispectral sensors to capture images of test plots over time.
"The continuous analysis, at different stages of the plant's life cycle, was essential to understand how they respond to water stress, as well as making it possible to predict how they'd behave in other areas," explained Juliana Yassitepe, a researcher at the Genomics for Climate Change Research Center in Brazil, according to a summary published on Phys.org.
The crops tested included 21 varieties of corn, with three conventional types and 18 genetically modified to overexpress genes related to water-stress resistance, the article explained. They were divided into two sections: one that was irrigated, and another that was subjected to drought stress.
The drone flyovers resulted in 290 images. Some used the multispectral sensor, which could capture non-visible light, like infrared, while the cheaper RGB sensor stuck to its namesake light bands.
The researchers found that the cheaper RGB images were more reliable and accurate, and by combining those with conventional ground measurements, they were able to define water stress parameters and feed the data into AI.
"The prediction accuracies achieved by machine learning models using RGB data showed promising applications. Some vegetation indices reflected how plants changed under drought and correlated highly with the assessed traits," the study detailed.
The importance of protecting staple crops like corn can't be overstated. They play a key role in human consumption, animal feed, and the production of biofuels. Farmers are increasingly relying on innovative technologies to increase crop yields as the climate changes.
A Penn State University study evaluating 18 warming scenarios through 2090 concluded that lower corn crop yields are inevitable as temperatures rise, making this type of research invaluable.
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