Developing a Vision System to enhance Phenotyping in Apples (Pomevision)

The UK is not self sufficient in apples, even during the high season, providing only one third of our own consumption, with the shortfall made up by imports. Our consortium, representing one third of UK growers, beieves that, by standardising best-practice orchard management, and with a strategic approach to helping breed new cultivars, we could gear up our orchards to take back at least 100,000T of lost import volume, worth £50M.
This project develops a novel vision based crop measurement technology for apple growers, capable of measuring commercially relevant phenotype traits in the field and providing quantified data to help breeders accelerate their programmes for new elite cultivars. The detailed data captured by tree over the season and between seasons will be correlated with environmental factors and the apple genome. It will provide growers the opportunity to meet three important industry objectives: To better manage the quality and yield of their crops through a precision horticulture approach; to strategically increase cropping intensity via improved strategic orchard management knowledge; and to inform breeders of the desired routes for the accelerated development of new elite cultivars, providing quantified information on the commercially important traits at phenotype level. This new technology will allow the UK to lead the world in the precision management and development of pome crops, and help increase production capacity by up to 50% from the current acreage.