| dc.description.abstract | Accurate determination of plant water status is mandatory to optimize irrigation scheduling
and thus maximize yield. Infrared thermography (IRT) can be used as a proxy for detecting
stomatal closure as a measure of plant water stress. In this study, an open-source software (Thermal
Image Processor (TIPCIP)) that includes image processing techniques such as thermal-visible image
segmentation and morphological operations was developed to estimate the crop water stress index
(CWSI) in potato crops. Results were compared to the CWSI derived from thermocouples where a high
correlation was found (rPearson = 0.84). To evaluate the effectiveness of the software, two experiments
were implemented. TIPCIP-based canopy temperature was used to estimate CWSI throughout
the growing season, in a humid environment. Two treatments with different irrigation timings
were established based on CWSI thresholds: 0.4 (T2) and 0.7 (T3), and compared against a control
(T1, irrigated when soil moisture achieved 70% of field capacity). As a result, T2 showed no significant
reduction in fresh tuber yield (34.5 3.72 and 44.3 2.66 t ha..1), allowing a total water saving of
341.6 63.65 and 515.7 37.73 m3 ha..1 in the first and second experiment, respectively. The findings
have encouraged the initiation of experiments to automate the use of the CWSI for precision irrigation
using either UAVs in large settings or by adapting TIPCIP to process data from smartphone-based
IRT sensors for applications in smallholder settings. | es_ES |
