Rapid Assessment of Insect Pest Outbreak Using Drones: A Case Study with Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Soybean Fields

Abstract

Rapid assessment of crop damage is essential for successful management of insect pest outbreaks. In this study, we investigated the use of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and image analyses to assess an outbreak of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), that occurred in soybean fields in South Korea. A rotary-wing UAS was deployed to obtain a series of aerial images over 31 soybean blocks. The images were stitched together to generate composite imagery, followed by image analyses to quantify soybean defoliation. An economic analysis was conducted to compare the cost of the aerial survey with that of a conventional ground survey. The results showed that the aerial survey precisely estimated the defoliation compared to the ground survey, with an estimated defoliation of 78.3% and a range of 22.4–99.8% in the 31 blocks. Moreover, the aerial survey followed by image analyses was found to be more economical than the conventional ground survey when the number of target soybean blocks subject to the survey was more than 15 blocks. Our study clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of using an autonomous UAS and image analysis to conduct a low-cost aerial survey of soybean damage caused by S. exigua outbreaks, which can inform decision-making for S. exigua management.

Morning Glory Flower Detection in Aerial Images Using Semi-Supervised Segmentation with Gaussian Mixture Models

“…With recent advances in UAS and sensor technologies, aerial surveys have become a key method for precision agriculture and smart farming because UASs can cover a larger area of land in less time for the creation of weed and treatment maps. In addition, the UAS has found widespread applications in crop and soil monitoring [33][34][35], pest detection [22,36,37], aerial release of natural enemies [38,39], and pesticide application [40]. In this study, we developed an automated method for detecting I. purpurea flowers using an enhanced GMM.…”

The Detection of Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) Using Drones and Optical Sensors: Implications for the Management of Invasive Plants and Insects

“…Modern technologies have been employed in analyzing invasive species distribution and applying control measures. Specifically, remote sensing has emerged as a powerful tool for the detection and monitoring of invasive plant species [24][25][26]. Small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAS, also known as drones) have been shown to be effective tools for aerial surveys of invasive plants, weeds, diseases, and insects [27].…”