Ground reference data for sugarcane biomass estimation in Sao Paulo state, Brazil

Author(s)

Molijn, Ramses A. ^[1] ; Iannini, Lorenzo ^[1] ; Rocha, Jansle Vieira ^[2] ; Hanssen, Ramon F. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Delft Univ Technol, Geosci & Remote Sensing, NL-2628 CN Delft - Netherlands

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, FEAGRI, BR-13083875 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: SCIENTIFIC DATA; v. 5, AUG 7 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 4

Abstract

In order to make effective decisions on sustainable development, it is essential for sugarcane-producing countries to take into account sugarcane acreage and sugarcane production dynamics. The availability of sugarcane biophysical data along the growth season is key to an effective mapping of such dynamics, especially to tune agronomic models and to cross-validate indirect satellite measurements. Here, we introduce a dataset comprising 3,500 sugarcane observations collected from October 2014 until October 2015 at four fields in the Sao Paulo state (Brazil). The campaign included both non-destructive measurements of plant biometrics and destructive biomass weighing procedures. The acquisition plan was designed to maximize cost-effectiveness and minimize field-invasiveness, hence the non-destructive measurements outnumber the destructive ones. To compensate for such imbalance, a method to convert the measured biometrics into biomass estimates, based on the empirical adjustment of allometric models, is proposed. In addition, the paper addresses the precisions associated to the ground measurements and derived metrics. The presented growth dynamics and associated precisions can be adopted when designing new sugarcane measurement campaigns. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/50942-2 - Applied multispectral reflectance spectroscopy for prediction of soil chemical properties to use in sugarcane precision agriculture
• Grantee: Paulo Sergio Graziano Magalhães
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants