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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Aerial Application Technology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #313879
Title: Using mosaicked airborne imagery to assess cotton root rot infection on a regional basis

Author
item Yang, Chenghai
item CASTILLO, CESAR - Texas A&M University
item ODVODY, GARY - Texas Agrilife
item THOMASSON, ALEX - Texas A&M University
item ISAKEIT, THOMAS - Texas A&M University
item MINZENMAYER, RICHARD - Texas Agrilife Extension
item NICHOLS, ROBERT - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2015
Publication Date: 5/2/2015
Citation: Yang, C., Castillo, C., Odvody, G., Thomasson, A., Isakeit, T., Minzenmayer, R., Nichols, R. 2015. Using mosaicked airborne imagery to assess cotton root rot infection on a regional basis. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conference. p. 614-619.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton root rot is a serious and destructive disease in many of the cotton production areas in Texas. Airborne images have been used to monitor the distribution and progression of this disease and the performance of fungicide treatments in south and central Texas in the last few years. In this study, procedures were developed to combine airborne RGB and near-infrared images taken over a large cotton growing area as one single image to assess the extent and severity of cotton root rot infection in fungicide-treated and nontreated fields. The combined image will be useful for both growers and county agents to assess the effectiveness of the fungicide control program and make management decisions for more effective control of the disease on a regional basis.

Technical Abstract: Cotton root rot is a serious and destructive disease in many of the cotton production areas in Texas. Since 2012, many cotton growers in Texas have used the Topguard fungicide to control this disease in their fields under Section 18 emergency exemptions. Airborne images have been used to monitor the progression of this disease and the performance of fungicide treatments in south and central Texas in the last few years. The objective of this study was to develop methods and procedures to mosaic individual airborne images taken over a cotton growing area as one single image to assess the extent and severity of cotton root rot infection in fungicide-treated and nontreated fields on a regional basis. Airborne RGB and near-infrared (NIR) images taken from a 13 km by 32 km (8 mi by 20 mi) area in San Angelo, TX near the end of the 2013 growing season were used for this study. The images were taken at 3050 m (10000 ft) above ground level and each image had a pixel array of 5616 x 3744 covering a ground area of 5.5 km by 3.6 km (3.4 mi by 2.3 mi) with a pixel size of 1.0 m. Images were taken along three flight lines with 30% sidelap and 30-60% forward overlap. Procedures were developed to create a mosaicked four-band image from individual RGB and NIR images. The mosaicked image clearly showed the distribution and severity of root rot-infected fields within the imaging area. The image will be useful for both growers and county agents to assess the effectiveness of the fungicide control program and make management decisions for more effective control of the disease on a regional basis.