Application of thermal Imaging for visualization of high density orchards and counting apple fruits

A new system for estimating the number of apple fruits and measuring their diameter was researched in a high-density orchard. A thermal camera was used for visualisation of 'Fuji' and 'Gala' apple trees one month after fruit thinning. The image and movie acquisition was applied to capture trees growing in a super-spindle orchard system. The number of apple fruits, diameter and the current yield was estimated from images using an image-processing algorithm. Almost the same results were obtained with both acquisition techniques for 'Fuji'. In contrast, the number of fruits as well as the current yield was underestimated for 'Gala' when using a movie acquisition. However, in all cases the thermal camera could be used for measuring fruit diameters.