Jianfeng Zhou

University of Missouri | Mizzou · Division of Plant Science and Technology

(1) Background: Yield-monitoring systems are widely used in grain crops but are less advanced for hay and forage. Current commercial systems are generally limited to weighing individual bales, limiting the spatial resolution of maps of hay yield. This study evaluated an Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based imaging system to estimate hay yield. (2) M...

Highlights An artificial intelligence-enabled imagery data processing pipeline. Sow vulva swelling can be quantified using imagery automatically. Biological signs of sow estrus are quantified. Abstract. Accurate and timely estrus detection is one of the critical factors for improving the conception rate of sows in swine reproduction. Estrus detect...

A portable cluster shaker with adjustable shaking frequency and amplitude was used to harvest Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis). The aim of this study was to determine the most suitable shaking amplitude and frequency to obtain the maximum fruit removal with minimal retaining fruits with greater maturity index. A 4x3x3 factorial experiment with a co...

The adoption of dicamba-tolerant (DT) soybean in the United States resulted in extensive off-target dicamba damage to non-DT vegetation across soybean-producing states. Although soybeans are highly sensitive to dicamba, the intensity of observed symptoms and yield losses are affected by the genetic background of genotypes. Thus, the objective of th...

Crop yield prediction is important for farmers to conduct proper field management and make marketing decisions. Yield prediction models built on single-type and same-year data may not reflect the holistic effect of environment and management on crop development. This study aimed to quantify cotton yield variation due to soil texture and weather con...

Plant lodging is one of the most essential phenotypes for soybean breeding programs. Soybean lodging is conventionally evaluated visually by breeders, which is time-consuming and subject to human errors. This study aimed to investigate the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based imagery and machine learning in assessing the lodging conditi...

Posture patterns of sows or gilts could reflect their welfare, estrus, and health status. However, due to the large animal-to-staff ratio at sow farms, there is not yet a solution to closely monitor individual sows' posture patterns to determine their estrus status and make other managemental decisions. This study aimed to evaluate the performance...

Weeds can cause significant yield losses and will continue to be a problem for agricultural production due to climate change. Dicamba is widely used to control weeds in monocot crops, especially genetically engineered dicamba-tolerant (DT) dicot crops, such as soybean and cotton, which has resulted in severe off-target dicamba exposure and substant...

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing has been extensively used in precision agriculture applications , such as vegetation growth and health monitoring, yield estimation, and irrigation management. Conventional procedures for UAV data collection and processing require collecting highly overlapped images, stitching images to generate an...

Fish is a vital protein source with an excellent measure of income and revenue. For high perishability of fish, it requires proper handling with cost-effectiveness and efficiency. To reduce fish deterioration, covering the fish with ice flakes is necessary. However, the scarcity of ice-crushing mills, electricity failure, and labor shortage challen...

Elderberry, a perennial shrub native to North America with various uses and benefits, is neither well known nor widely utilized as a specialty crop in the U.S. Techavio predicts that the U.S. elderberry market share will rise to USD 109.76 million between 2021 and 2026, with the market exhibiting an accelerated growth momentum at a Compound Annual...

Soybean lodging identification on breeding purpose relies on manual measurements and visual inspection by the breeders, which is inefficient, time-consuming, and very subjective to human errors. From the past few years, remote sensing image has become one of the most popular tools for crop lodging identification due to the tools provides features f...

The widespread adoption of genetically modified (GM) dicamba-tolerant (DT) soybean was followed by numerous reports of off-target dicamba damage and yield losses across most soybean-producing states. In this study, a subset of the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection consisting of 382 genetically diverse soybean accessions originating from 15 countrie...

Quantification of interactions of soil conditions, plant available water and weather conditions on crop development and production is the key for optimizing field management to achieve optimal production. The goal of this study was to quantify the effects of soil and weather conditions on cotton development and production using temporal aerial imag...

Assessment of corn (Zea Mays L.) emergence uniformity is important to evaluate crop yield potential. Previous studies have shown the potential of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and deep learning (DL) models in estimating early stand count and plant spacing uniformity, but few have extended further to field-scale mapping. Additionally, estima...

Since the commercialization and widespread adoption of dicamba‐tolerant (DT) soybean cultivars across the United States, numerous cases of off‐target damage to non‐DT soybean have been reported. Soybean is naturally highly sensitive to dicamba, a synthetic auxin herbicide. Previous studies have focused on understanding the impact of growth stage, d...

Plant breeding is one of the primary technologies that increase crop production, improve food and feed quality, and enhance their resilience to adverse environments. Modern plant breeding programs have been significantly improved due to the advances in high-throughput genetic sequencing and genomic technologies. However, the acquisition of plant tr...

Accurate estrus detection of sows is critical to achieving a high farrowing rate and maintaining good reproductive performance. The conventional method of estrus detection uses a back pressure test by breeding technicians, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. This study aimed to develop an automated estrus detection method by monitoring the...

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an important cash crop and primary materials for clothing, fine paper, animal feed, and oil industries. Cotton production is affected by a combination effect of crop varieties, environment, and management. Precision agriculture technology has shown great potential to improve cotton production with sufficient high-r...

This book, consisting of 8 chapters, describes the state-of-the-art technological progress and applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in precision agriculture. It focuses on the UAV application in agriculture, such as crop disease detection, mid-season yield estimation, crop nutrient status, and high-throughput phenotyping. Different from...

Southern root-knot nematode [SRKN, Meloidogyne incognita (Kofold & White) Chitwood] is a plant-parasitic nematode challenging to control due to its short life cycle, a wide range of hosts, and limited management options, of which genetic resistance is the main option to efficiently control the damage caused by SRKN. To date, a major quantitative tr...

The wide adoption of dicamba-tolerant (DT) soybean has led to numerous cases of off-target dicamba damage to non-DT soybean and dicot crops. This study aimed to develop a method to differentiate soybean response to dicamba using unmanned-aerial-vehicle-based imagery and machine learning models. Soybean lines were visually classified into three clas...

The efficiency of crop breeding programs is evaluated by the genetic gain of a primary trait of interest, e.g., yield, achieved in 1 year through artificial selection of advanced breeding materials. Conventional breeding programs select superior genotypes using the primary trait (yield) based on combine harvesters, which is labor-intensive and ofte...

The USA and Germany have compared the issues that surround the adoption of digital technology on the farm that will foster more environmentally sustainable food production/processing systems. Both countries lack robust broadband internet pathways to foster the adoption of these technologies. The problem is currently relevant to making this data tec...

The commercialization of synthetic auxin-resistant crops and the commensurate increase in post-emergent auxin-mimic herbicide applications has resulted in millions of hectares of injury to sensitive soybeans in the United States since 2016. Visual yield loss estimations following auxin injury can be difficult. The goal of this research was to deter...

This chapter provides an overview of high-throughput crop phenotyping technology on its concept and significance under the context of crop production improvement. The roles of different components in the crop production equation (\({\varvec{P}}={\varvec{G}}\times {\varvec{E}}\times {\varvec{M}}+\varepsilon\)) toward crop yield, i.e., crop yield (P)...

Increasing crop production through genetic improvements and crop breedingBreeding programs is a key solution for the expected food crisis in 2050. Crops with improved traits of high yield potential and resilience to bioticBiotic stressesand abiotic stressesAbiotic stresses due to adverse environments can be developed at a faster speed by integratin...

This book provides an overview of the innovations in crop phenotyping using emerging technologies, i.e., high-throughput crop phenotyping technology, including its concept, importance, breakthrough and applications in different crops and environments. Emerging technologies in sensing, machine vision and high-performance computing are changing the w...

Optimum plant stand density and uniformity is vital in order to maximize corn (Zea mays L.) yield potential. Assessment of stand density can occur shortly after seedlings begin to emerge, allowing for timely replant decisions. The conventional methods for evaluating an early plant stand rely on manual measurement and visual observation, which are t...

Soybean is sensitive to flooding stress that may result in poor seed quality and significant yield reduction. Soybean production under flooding could be sustained by developing flood-tolerant cultivars through breeding programs. Conventionally, soybean tolerance to flooding in field conditions is evaluated by visually rating the shoot injury/damage...

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most economically important crops in the world and is used widely for different purposes. Breeding programs have developed new varieties with desired traits, including altered fatty acid profiles and levitated protein content. The breeding process involves the selection of elite genotypes from a large number of e...

Crop yield is a primary trait to select superior genotypes and evaluate breeding efficiency in breeding programs. Crops with high yield potential are usually selected from numerous breeding lines in multiple years and locations. However, the efficiency of conventional breeding programs is limited by the capacity of field phenotyping, which can be i...

Plant high-throughput phenotyping technology is taking more and more important roles in soybean breeding and genetic research thanks to the advance in sensing and data analytic technologies. However, commercial high-throughput phenotyping systems of general purpose are expensive and complicated for many research groups, and their data analytic meth...

Highlights UAV imagery can be used to characterize newly-emerged corn plants. Size and shape features used in a random forest model are able to predict days after emergence within a 3-day window. Diameter and area were important size features for predicting DAE for the first, second, and third week of emergence. Abstract . Assessing corn (Zea mays...

Crop emergence is an important agronomic factor for making field management decisions, such as replanting, that are time-sensitive and need to be made at very early stages. Crop emergence, evaluated using plant population, stand count and uniformity, is conventionally quantified manually, not accurate, and labor and time intensive. Unmanned aerial...

Crop stand count and uniformity are important measures for making proper field management decisions to improve crop production. Conventional methods for evaluating stand count based on visual observation are time consuming and labor intensive, making it difficult to adequately cover a large field. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate cott...

Monitoring crop development and accurately estimating crop yield are important to improve field management and crop production. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based remote sensing system in cotton yield estimation. A UAV system, equipped with an RGB camera, a multispectral camera, and an infrared th...

Maize UAV Yield prediction Colour feature Modelling Variable-rate application Accurate crop yield estimation is important for agronomic and economic decision-making. This study evaluated the performance of imagery data acquired using a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based imaging system for estimating yield of maize (Zea mays L.) and the effects of...

Assessing corn (Zea Mays L.) emergence uniformity soon after planting is important for relating to grain production and for making replanting decisions. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery has been used for determining corn densities at vegetative growth stage 2 (V2) and later, but not as a tool for detecting emergence date. The objective of this...

The pinto bean is one of widely consumed legume crop that constitutes over 42% of the U.S dry bean production. However, limited studies have been conducted in past to assess its quantitative and qualitative yield potentials. Emerging remote sensing technologies can help in such assessment. Therefore, this study evaluates the role of ground-based mu...

Physiological maturity date is a critical parameter for the selection of breeding lines in soybean breeding programs. The conventional method to estimate the maturity dates of breeding lines uses visual ratings based on pod senescence by experts, which is subjective by human estimation, labor-intensive and time-consuming. Unmanned aerial vehicle (U...

Flood has an important effect on plant growth by affecting their physiologic and biochemical properties. Soybean is one of the main cultivated crops in the world and the United States is one of the largest soybean producers. However, soybean plant is sensitive to flood stress that may cause slow growth, low yield, small crop production and result i...

Plant breeding has significantly improved in recent years; however, phenotyping remains a bottleneck, as the process of evaluating and measuring plant traits is often expensive, subjective, and laborious. Although commercial phenotyping systems are available, factors like cost, space, and need for specific controlled-environment conditions limit th...

Accurate estimation of crop yield before harvest, especially in early growth stages, is important for farmers and researchers to optimize field management and evaluate crop performance. However, existing in-field methods for estimating crop yield are not efficient. The goal of this research was to evaluate the performance of a UAV-based remote sens...

Phenotyping traits in large field crop trials with numerous breeding lines is an arduous task. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing is currently being investigated for high-throughput agricultural field phenotyping applications. The system is conducive for rapid assessment of crop response to the environment, at a desired spatio-tempo...

Soybean is a salt sensitive crop and saline soil results in substantial reduction in crop productivity. The genetic resources for salt tolerance in soybean were observed but are not fully evaluated due to the difficulty in capturing and quantifying the dynamic responses to salinity stress for large, diverse germplasm collections. This study aimed t...

Geometric dimensions of plants are significant parameters for showing plant dynamic responses to environmental variations. An image-based high-throughput phenotyping platform was developed to automatically measure geometric dimensions of plants in a greenhouse. The goal of this paper was to evaluate the accuracy in geometric measurement using the S...

Salt stress is one of the major abiotic factors affecting crop growth and production. In general, soybean is sensitive to salt stress. The success of soybean improvement for salt tolerance depends on discovery and utilization of genetic variation in the germplasm. In this chapter, advance in salt-tolerant research and breeding was summarized by hig...

Site-specific crop management is a promising approach to maximize crop yield with optimal use of rapidly depleting natural resources. Availability of high resolution crop data at critical growth stages is a key for real-time data-driven decisions during the production season. The goal of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using small unm...