Study of the Relationship between Biomass and Fractional Green Canopy Cover of Two Forage Crops Using Canopeo®

Abstract

Rapid and accurate estimation of biomass is crucial for the assessment of the crop nutrition status and the improvement of crop management strategies. The study was conducted in Setif province (Northeast of Algeria). Canopy cover was calculated using Canopeo® application, at stem elongation, booting, and heading stages for triticale, and V5, R1, and R3 for lentil. The results indicate a high correlation between canopy cover and triticale biomass, at the stem elongation stage with R2 = 0.98 and 0.89 under no till and conventional till, respectively. The RMSE was 0.1 and 0.06t/ha, under the two modes. The lowest correlation is seen at heading stage with a value of 0.21 and RMSE of 0.65t/ha, under no till mode. For lentil, the high correlations between are observed at R3 (early pod), and R1 (early bloom) stages, with a coefficients of 0.85 and 0.98, under zero till and conventional respectively. The RMSE was 0.17t/ha. This smartphone application is suitable for assessing triticale and lentil biomass; it is rapid, easy, and could replace the destructive sampling method.