Determining the Beginning of Potato Tuberization Period Using Plant Height Detected by Drone for Irrigation Purposes

Abstract

Insolation and precipitation instability associated with climate change affects plant development patterns and water demand. The potato root system and soil properties lead to water vulnerability, impacting crop yield. Regarding potato physiology, plants stop growing when the root depth stabilizes, and then the tuberization period begins. Since this moment, water supply is required. Consequently, an approach based on plant physiology may enable farmers to detect the beginning of the irrigation period precisely. Remote sensing is a fast and precise method for obtaining surface information using non-invasive data collection. The database comprises root depth (RD) and plant height (H) data collected during 2019, 2020, and 2021. This research aims to develop a dynamic approach based on remote sensing and crop physiology to accurately determine the beginning of the tuberization period, called here the irrigation critical point (ICP). The results indicate a high correlation between RD and H (>0.85) which is independent of in-field soil and relief variations > 0.95). Further, plant growth rate corroborates the correlation results with decreasing patterns in time (R2 > 0.80), independent of environmental variations. In short, it was possible to determine the ICP based on the crop growth dynamics, independently of climate variations, field placement, or irrigation system.