Diseases & stress

are sometimes difficult to assess and require in-depth knowledge of the personnel in the field. In addition to plant counting and homogeneity analysis, Pheno-Inspect image analysis also offers plot-based detection of leaf diseases such as Cercospora and powdery mildew

The challenge: To be able to describe the variety differences and value characteristics caused by leaf diseases as accurately as possible, there are often only time windows of a few days available. In addition, leaf position must be sufficiently taken into account as a variety characteristic. In future, trial managers will be able to use their own drone technology to take aerial photographs at the crucial times. The ongoing development of our image processing makes it possible to evaluate these images in the same way and compare them objectively across locations and points in time.

Cercospora (purple) spots on sugar beet

Mildew (blue) on sugar beet

Yellow virus (blue) on sugar beet

In field trials, whether for plant breeding, seed and variety evaluation, plant protection, or fertilization, it is essential to record the phenotypic characteristics of the plants in the field with high precision and reliability. The exact recording of these parameters is the basis for successfully evaluating the trial and the resulting advice. Field trials are typically divided into exact and strip trials. The relevant trial parameters and phenotypic characteristics are recorded using precisely coordinated and timed field and plant sampling. The counting of individual plants, the assessment of weeds, and the professional evaluation of plant diseases are incredibly time-consuming and, therefore, cost-intensive. As a result, even in the “smaller” trial plots in the exact trial, only random samples are often assessed, as there is often no staff available for a comprehensive assessment. This results in an underutilized information potential of the collected parameters. This applies particularly to strip trials, where site and other effects can only be considered to a limited extent. As a result, data collection and evaluation remain below the technical possibilities already available today.

Pheno-Inspect bietet innovative Produkte zur bildbasierten Auswertung der relevanten Parameter. Zuerst werden Bilddaten der Versuche mit einfach zu bedienenden Drohnen oder Smartphones aufgenommen. Danach erfassen die „digitalen Experten“ von Pheno-Inspect, d.h. auf künstlicher Intelligenz basierende Bildverarbeitungsalgorithmen, jede einzelne Pflanze und extrahieren relevante phänotypischen Kenngrößen für das gesamte Prüfglied. Die Bildanalyse ist vollständig georeferenziert. Die Parameter werden direkt unter Berücksichtigung von Parzellen und/oder Teilflächen aus dem Versuchsplan ausgewertet und können bequem über mehrere Standorte und Zeitpunkte statistisch aufbereitet werden. Die Bildverarbeitungstechnologie kann sehr effizient für Versuchszwecke, unabhängig von Kulturart oder Fragestellung und prinzipiell auch für Fragestellungen im gesamten Pflanzenbau verwendet werden.

Digital assessments play a crucial role in modern agriculture and plant research. They enable precise and efficient assessment of plants and field trials, which are essential for seed and variety development, crop protection, and fertilization strategies. Traditional methods of plant evaluation are often time-consuming and labor-intensive and can only provide limited amounts of data. This is where digitalization offers groundbreaking progress. With technologies such as drones, smartphones and advanced image processing based on artificial intelligence, each plant can be captured and assessed individually. This enables a comprehensive and precise analysis of large field areas and thus significantly improves the quality and informative value of field trials.

The use of digital assessments has several advantages: it increases efficiency by automating data collection, increases the accuracy of the data, and enables a georeferenced and detailed evaluation of test plots. These techniques can be applied to various crops and issues and open up new possibilities in plant research and agriculture. Our web-based solution for the automatic evaluation of exact and strip trials is an example of the power of digital scoring. It offers a user-friendly, integrated platform seamlessly integrated into existing workflows and enables comprehensive analyses across different locations and points in time. With digital scoring, we drive plant research and agriculture innovation to develop more sustainable and efficient cultivation strategies.

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