IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v12y2022i8p1267-d893083.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimation of Maize LAI Using Ensemble Learning and UAV Multispectral Imagery under Different Water and Fertilizer Treatments

Author

Listed:
  • Qian Cheng

    (Farmland Irrigation Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Water-Saving Agriculture of Henan Province, Xinxiang 453002, China)

  • Honggang Xu

    (Farmland Irrigation Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Water-Saving Agriculture of Henan Province, Xinxiang 453002, China)

  • Shuaipeng Fei

    (Farmland Irrigation Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Water-Saving Agriculture of Henan Province, Xinxiang 453002, China
    College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Zongpeng Li

    (Farmland Irrigation Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Water-Saving Agriculture of Henan Province, Xinxiang 453002, China)

  • Zhen Chen

    (Farmland Irrigation Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Water-Saving Agriculture of Henan Province, Xinxiang 453002, China)

Abstract

The leaf area index (LAI), commonly used as an indicator of crop growth and physiological development, is mainly influenced by the degree of water and fertilizer stress. Accurate assessment of the LAI can help to understand the state of crop water and fertilizer deficit, which is important for crop management and the precision agriculture. The objective of this study is to evaluate the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based multispectral imaging to estimate the LAI of maize under different water and fertilizer stress conditions. For this, multispectral imagery of the field was conducted at different growth stages (jointing, trumpet, silking and flowering) of maize under three water treatments and five fertilizer treatments. Subsequently, a stacking ensemble learning model was built with Gaussian process regression (GPR), support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) and cubist regression as primary learners to predict the LAI using UAV-based vegetation indices (VIs) and ground truth data. Results showed that the LAI was influenced significantly by water and fertilizer stress in both years’ experiments. Multispectral VIs were significantly correlated with maize LAI at multiple growth stages. The Pearson correlation coefficients between UAV-based VIs and ground truth LAI ranged from 0.64 to 0.89. Furthermore, the fusion of multiple stage data showed that the correlations were significantly higher between ground truth LAI and UAV-based VIs than that of single growth stage data. The ensemble learning algorithm with MLR as the secondary learner outperformed as a single machine learning algorithm with high prediction accuracy R 2 = 0.967 and RMSE = 0.198 in 2020, and R 2 = 0.897 and RMSE = 0.220 in 2021. We believe that the ensemble learning algorithm based on stacking is preferable to the single machine learning algorithm to build the LAI prediction model. This study can provide certain theoretical guidance for the rapid and precise management of water and fertilizer for large experimental fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Qian Cheng & Honggang Xu & Shuaipeng Fei & Zongpeng Li & Zhen Chen, 2022. "Estimation of Maize LAI Using Ensemble Learning and UAV Multispectral Imagery under Different Water and Fertilizer Treatments," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1267-:d:893083
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1267/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1267/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Gampe & Jakob Zscheischler & Markus Reichstein & Michael O’Sullivan & William K. Smith & Stephen Sitch & Wolfgang Buermann, 2021. "Increasing impact of warm droughts on northern ecosystem productivity over recent decades," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(9), pages 772-779, September.
    2. Zou, Hui, 2006. "The Adaptive Lasso and Its Oracle Properties," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 101, pages 1418-1429, December.
    3. Shao, Guomin & Han, Wenting & Zhang, Huihui & Liu, Shouyang & Wang, Yi & Zhang, Liyuan & Cui, Xin, 2021. "Mapping maize crop coefficient Kc using random forest algorithm based on leaf area index and UAV-based multispectral vegetation indices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    4. Hui Zou & Trevor Hastie, 2005. "Addendum: Regularization and variable selection via the elastic net," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 67(5), pages 768-768, November.
    5. Irmak, Suat & Mohammed, Ali T. & Kukal, Meetpal S., 2022. "Maize response to coupled irrigation and nitrogen fertilization under center pivot, subsurface drip and surface (furrow) irrigation: Growth, development and productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    6. Hui Zou & Trevor Hastie, 2005. "Regularization and variable selection via the elastic net," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 67(2), pages 301-320, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tutz, Gerhard & Pößnecker, Wolfgang & Uhlmann, Lorenz, 2015. "Variable selection in general multinomial logit models," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 207-222.
    2. Margherita Giuzio, 2017. "Genetic algorithm versus classical methods in sparse index tracking," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 40(1), pages 243-256, November.
    3. Mkhadri, Abdallah & Ouhourane, Mohamed, 2013. "An extended variable inclusion and shrinkage algorithm for correlated variables," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 631-644.
    4. Yize Zhao & Matthias Chung & Brent A. Johnson & Carlos S. Moreno & Qi Long, 2016. "Hierarchical Feature Selection Incorporating Known and Novel Biological Information: Identifying Genomic Features Related to Prostate Cancer Recurrence," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(516), pages 1427-1439, October.
    5. Christopher J Greenwood & George J Youssef & Primrose Letcher & Jacqui A Macdonald & Lauryn J Hagg & Ann Sanson & Jenn Mcintosh & Delyse M Hutchinson & John W Toumbourou & Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz &, 2020. "A comparison of penalised regression methods for informing the selection of predictive markers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-14, November.
    6. Norman R. Swanson & Weiqi Xiong, 2018. "Big data analytics in economics: What have we learned so far, and where should we go from here?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 51(3), pages 695-746, August.
    7. Gareth M. James & Peter Radchenko & Jinchi Lv, 2009. "DASSO: connections between the Dantzig selector and lasso," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 71(1), pages 127-142, January.
    8. Mostafa Rezaei & Ivor Cribben & Michele Samorani, 2021. "A clustering-based feature selection method for automatically generated relational attributes," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 303(1), pages 233-263, August.
    9. Umberto Amato & Anestis Antoniadis & Italia De Feis & Irene Gijbels, 2021. "Penalised robust estimators for sparse and high-dimensional linear models," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 30(1), pages 1-48, March.
    10. Camila Epprecht & Dominique Guegan & Álvaro Veiga & Joel Correa da Rosa, 2017. "Variable selection and forecasting via automated methods for linear models: LASSO/adaLASSO and Autometrics," Post-Print halshs-00917797, HAL.
    11. Wang Zhu & Wang C.Y., 2010. "Buckley-James Boosting for Survival Analysis with High-Dimensional Biomarker Data," Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-33, June.
    12. Wang, Christina Dan & Chen, Zhao & Lian, Yimin & Chen, Min, 2022. "Asset selection based on high frequency Sharpe ratio," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 227(1), pages 168-188.
    13. repec:jss:jstsof:33:i01 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Borup, Daniel & Christensen, Bent Jesper & Mühlbach, Nicolaj Søndergaard & Nielsen, Mikkel Slot, 2023. "Targeting predictors in random forest regression," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 841-868.
    15. Bartosz Uniejewski, 2024. "Regularization for electricity price forecasting," Papers 2404.03968, arXiv.org.
    16. Peter Bühlmann & Jacopo Mandozzi, 2014. "High-dimensional variable screening and bias in subsequent inference, with an empirical comparison," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 407-430, June.
    17. Peter Martey Addo & Dominique Guegan & Bertrand Hassani, 2018. "Credit Risk Analysis Using Machine and Deep Learning Models," Risks, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-20, April.
    18. Capanu, Marinela & Giurcanu, Mihai & Begg, Colin B. & Gönen, Mithat, 2023. "Subsampling based variable selection for generalized linear models," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Yu-Min Yen, 2010. "A Note on Sparse Minimum Variance Portfolios and Coordinate-Wise Descent Algorithms," Papers 1005.5082, arXiv.org, revised Sep 2013.
    20. Costa, Alexandre Bonnet R. & Ferreira, Pedro Cavalcanti G. & Gaglianone, Wagner P. & Guillén, Osmani Teixeira C. & Issler, João Victor & Lin, Yihao, 2021. "Machine learning and oil price point and density forecasting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    21. Tomáš Plíhal, 2021. "Scheduled macroeconomic news announcements and Forex volatility forecasting," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(8), pages 1379-1397, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1267-:d:893083. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.