Have you ever witnessed people flying drones in the place and wondered, “How cool is that?” These “unmanned aerial vehicles” – or UAVs are used for various professional applications. Are you aware of the latest drones that make each bite of your food?

With the advancement of drone technology and reduced cost, drones are becoming more widespread in daily research in crop science. They cancan replace the tiring job of walking across the field, measuring, and identifying difficulties. They assist scientists in speeding up their discovery and decreasing labor expenses to grow more nutritious, high-yielding, and delicious crops.

Before diving into instances and their applications before we get into examples and applications, let’s discuss the fundamental idea that drives the use of drones in crop research. We live in a world where our Sun emits radiation that we refer to as”the “electromagnetic spectrum.” This includes visible light, as well as microwaves, near-infrared waves such as x-rays, gamma-rays, and x-. It is possible to “see” different parts of the spectrum by attaching sensors to drones, much like wearing night vision glasses to sense the warmth of those who are hiding within the forest. Using drones and sensors, we can) discern plants from the surrounding vegetation and two) take pictures of the inner workings and processes of plants.

Figure 1. Above are two drone pictures of breeding plots for potatoes taken between 40 and 70 days following the planting (DAP). Below, you can see the estimated height of plants (EPH) calculated by the location of the red dotted line on the drone photos. Arrows indicate individuals with short potatoes from the group, which drones can identify! Provided by Filipe Matias

If you come across children who are tall when compared to other kids and you consider “future basketball star.” In crop science, we need to be able to gaze at a lot from afar and forecast the harvest when the season is over. Let’s take a look at about potatoes. In Figure 1, the drone has captured an image of an area of potatoes to gauge the plant’s height. This allowed us to determine that certain varieties were taller than others. Regarding breeding being a possibility, we expect larger potato plants to have more giant leaves and create more nutrients for emerging potatoes underground.