Multispectral Imaging for In-field Green Citrus Identification

A new early season method of creating high detail citrus yield maps in a grove was evaluated. A monochromatic near-infrared camera was equipped with interchangeable optical band pass filters was used to capture images of citrus fruit in a Florida citrus grove during the late Fall of 2006 growing season. Over 500 images were acquired of 36 separate on tree citrus fruit targets using three different optical band pass filters. The saved images were processed together using indices and morphological image processing techniques. Results showed an average correct pixel identification of 84.5%. The number of citrus pixels counted by the image processing algorithm was showed an R of 0.74 when predicting the actual number of citrus pixels. These results show a multispectral imaging system has potential to be used in an automated early season yield evaluation and mapping system. Such systems are of high interests for grove modeling and precision agricultural management methods.