Application of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) for Disease Assessment and High Throughput Field Phenotyping of Plant Breeding Trials

Conventional plant phenotyping relies on visual scoring and manual measurements, which are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and prone to human error. To address these limitations, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) are increasingly being applied in breeding trials to capture various phenotypic traits. High Throughput Phenotyping (HTP) offers enhanced speed, accuracy, and efficiency, while potentially reducing costs in plant breeding programs.

This study explores UAS-based phenotyping in wheat breeding trials with the aim to integrate HTP platforms across breeding pipelines. UAS images were acquired using a Parrot Bluegrass drone equipped with a sequoia multispectral sensor, processed via Agisoft Metashape (open-source) and Pix4D mapper (licensed), and analyzed using PlotPhenix (licensed) for Vegetation Indices (VIs) and plot segmentation.

Comparisons between UAS-based and ground-based measurements revealed that grain yield is significantly negatively correlated (r = -0.74) with yellow rust disease severity. Multispectral-derived indices, particularly **Red, Red Edge, and NIR bands, showed positive correlations with grain yield (ranging from 0.22 to 0.23), though RGB-generated indices exhibited stronger correlations.

The findings confirm that UAS-generated indices effectively assess yellow rust disease severity and predict grain yield. UAS-based phenotyping enhances efficiency and accuracy in trait collection and disease assessment, facilitating the development of improved wheat varieties and promoting the integration of UAS technologies into breeding programs.