More than 600 small and medium Hass avocado producers from the IV and VI Region will benefit from the results of an innovative project which, by means of hyperspectral remote sensing, seeks to optimise the management of orchards and thus improve their yields.
The initiative, led by the Universidad Mayor and supported by the Foundation for Agricultural Innovation of the Ministry of Agriculture, will allow for an accurate, fast and cost-effective monitoring of the flowering, with the aim of determining applications, treatments, irrigation programmes and differentiated management.
The annual management of an avocado plantation is determined by keeping track of the flowering; however, "the method currently used is of low reliability and accuracy, as well as time-consuming and costly," explains the innovation executive at FIA, Loreto Burgos.
"Considering these difficulties, the project aims to develop products making use of analyses of radiometric data and in situ hyperspectral imaging, which will make it possible to optimise the agronomic management of Hass avocados," added Burgos.
The creation of a quick, accurate and cost-effective flowering monitoring system is essential, not only to increase production, but also to reduce costs, stresses Javier Cano, project coordinator and researcher at the Centre for the Study of Natural Resources of Universidad Mayor.
Chile currently has a production area of close to 35,000 hectares, with a cost of monitoring amounting to 875 million dollars annually, i.e. $ 25,000 per hectare. "This project aims to reduce this cost by between 40 and 60%," states Cano. The initiative will also have environmental benefits, "since the differentiated management and accurate application will minimise the impact on the environment and water consumption."
Among other goals, the project aims to generate a spectral library of flowers, leaves, branches and red buds; generating a spectral algorithm to determine the flowering percentage and determine an adequate method for the post-processing of images suitable to the user's needs.
Commercially speaking, Hass avocados are currently the most important crop for Chile, due to the remarkable organoleptic qualities of the fruit and its earliness and high productivity in agronomic terms.
According to a report from Odepa, total production of avocados (Hass and other varieties) amounted to 146,727 tonnes in 2012, with a planted acreage of 35,679 hectares.
In this context, and as expressed by Loreto Burgos, the project for the management of Hass avocados using hyperspectral imaging offers an opportunity for development, as it could be extrapolated to other crop varieties that may benefit from this technology.
"This new system will help significantly reduce the time and resources required in the visual evaluation of the flowering and thus enhance the competitiveness of Chilean avocados in the export market," concludes the FIA executive.
Source: estrategia.cl