Digital evaluation of leaf area of an individual tree canopy in the apple orchard using the LIDAR measurement system

This paper compares LIDAR and manual measurements of leaf area in orchards. The LIDAR measurements were performed in real orchard conditions. LIDAR data were used to count the number of points and to measure the canopy volume of individual volume elements. Manual measurements included defoliation, counting and leaf area measurements. Both types of measurements were performed in 8 volume elements for 20 apple trees of three different ages and varieties ('Golden delicious', 'Jonagold' and 'Gala'). Using regression analysis, we estimated the relation between number of points in the cloud, canopy volume (both LIDAR measurements) and the leaf area (manual measurement). The maximum value of the correlation coefficient was 0.87816, when established from the relation between the number of points in the cloud and the canopy leaf area. The maximum value of the correlation coefficient was 0.80167, when established between the volume of tree canopy volume element and the leaf area.