Unmanned aerial vehicle for the assessment of woody and herbaceous phytomass in Sahelian savanna

Authors

    M. Bossoukpe, O. Ndiaye, O. Diatta, S. Diatta, A. Audebert, P. Couteron, L. Leroux, A.A. Diouf, M. Dendoncker, E. Faye, S. Taugourdeau

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19182/remvt.36802

Keywords


Above ground biomass, trees, grasses, grassland management, multispectral imagery, Sahel, Senegal

Abstract

The phytomass of herbaceous and woody plants is the main source of feed for pastoral livestock in the Sahelian savanna. The assessment of the available feedstock plays a key role in national livestock policies and generally requires many field measurements of both herbaceous and woody plants. In this study, we tested the possibility of using a red-green-blue (RGB) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to evaluate the phytomass of both woody and herbaceous species. We thus mapped 38 one hectare plots with a Dji Spark UAV in Northern Senegal. The herbaceous phytomass was measured on the ground. For the woody communities, we evaluated the leaf phytomass using dendrometric parameters combined with allometric equations. We performed partial-least square regressions between UAV-based three-dimension and color indices and phytomass. Results showed a Q² (cross validation results for each response variable) of 0.57 for woody phytomass, 0.68 for herbaceous dry mass, and 0.76 for their fresh mass. This study confirmed the relevance of using low-cost RGB UAV to assess savanna phytomass.

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Affiliations

  • M. Bossoukpe
    marinabossoukpe@gmail.com
    UCAD, Département de biologie végétale, PPZS, Dakar, Sénégal.
  • O. Ndiaye ISRA, CRZ Dahra-PPZS, Dahra Djoloff, Sénégal.
  • O. Diatta ISRA, CRZ Dahra-PPZS, Dahra Djoloff, Sénégal.
  • S. Diatta UCAD, Département de biologie végétale, PPZS, Dakar, Sénégal.
  • A. Audebert
    https://publications.cirad.fr/en/auteur.php?mat=1207
    CIRAD, UMR AGAP, F-34398 Montpellier, France. AGAP, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France. ISRA, CERAAS, Thies, Sénégal.
  • P. Couteron CIRAD, UMR AMAP, F-34398 Montpellier, France. AMAP, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, CIRAD, INRAE, IRD, Montpellier, France.
  • L. Leroux
    https://publications.cirad.fr/en/auteur.php?mat=16663
    CIRAD, UPR AIDA, Dakar, Sénégal. AIDA, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France.
  • A.A. Diouf Centre de suivi écologique, Fann Résidence, Dakar, Sénégal.
  • M. Dendoncker Université catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique.
  • E. Faye
    https://publications.cirad.fr/en/auteur.php?mat=13299
    CIRAD, UPR HortSys, F-34398 Montpellier, France. HortSys, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France. ISRA, CDH, Dakar 14000, Sénégal.
  • S. Taugourdeau
    https://publications.cirad.fr/en/auteur.php?mat=14142
    CIRAD UMR SELMET-PPZS, Dakar, Sénégal. SELMET, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France.

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Published

2021-12-13

How to Cite

Bossoukpe, M., Ndiaye, O., Diatta, O., Diatta, S., Audebert, A., Couteron, P., Leroux, L., Diouf, A. A., Dendoncker, M., Faye, E., & Taugourdeau, S. (2021). Unmanned aerial vehicle for the assessment of woody and herbaceous phytomass in Sahelian savanna. Revue d’élevage Et De médecine vétérinaire Des Pays Tropicaux, 74(4), 199–205. https://doi.org/10.19182/remvt.36802

Issue

Vol. 74 No. 4 (2021)

Section

Feed resources and feeding

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© M.Bossoukpe et al., hosted by CIRAD 2021

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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