NASA’s Aerial Imaging Technology Proves Vital in Combating Vineyard Diseases
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been lauded for its groundbreaking collaboration with vineyard producers in Lodi, California. Through the use of aerial imaging technology, NASA has been able to detect and identify the early signs of grape leaf roll virus, a devastating plant virus transmitted by aphids.
The Race Against an Invasive Virus
Traditionally, the confirmation and analysis of grape diseases relied on individual testing, a time-consuming process that often allowed the virus to spread uncontrollably. By the time test results were obtained, it was often too late to prevent the disease from decimating entire vineyards.
According to statistics, the annual financial losses inflicted by grape leaf roll virus in the United States alone amount to a staggering $3 billion. The permanent removal of infected vines remains the only solution to halt the disease’s advance.
Revolutionary Infrared Imaging Techniques
Enter NASA’s revolutionary technology, utilizing infrared imaging from aircraft to pinpoint diseased vines. This breakthrough allows growers to take swift action and save their crops before irreversible damage occurs. The vine leaf curl disease, with its dormant incubation period that shows no visible symptoms upon initial infection, serves as an ideal model to test the efficacy of disease detection.
Moreover, the potential applications of this technology extend beyond vineyards, with the possibility of revolutionizing disease detection in various agricultural sectors.
Promising Results and Groundbreaking Research
NASA’s findings, published in the prestigious scientific journal Phytopathology, highlight the scalability and accuracy of early vine virus detection using aerial imaging spectroscopy. Collaborating with industry experts, researchers surveyed a remarkable 317 hectares of vines between September 2020 and September 2021.
From these surveys, molecular identification tests were conducted on selected subsets of vines showing visible virus symptoms in 2021. Utilizing a randomized forest model, based on spectroscopic signatures, the researchers successfully distinguished between infected and uninfected vines with an impressive resolution of 1-5 meters.
The best-performing models exhibited a remarkable 87% accuracy in distinguishing between “uninfected and asymptomatic” vines and an equally impressive 85% accuracy in distinguishing between “uninfected and asymptomatic + symptomatic” vines.
A Complementary Approach to Traditional Methods
It is important to note that the goal of NASA’s work is not to replace traditional field search strategies or molecular testing. Instead, this cutting-edge technology provides a more strategic approach, augmenting existing resources and enabling growers to combat vineyard diseases more efficiently and effectively.
A drone image capturing a message thanking NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for its cooperation in detecting a virus that is destroying vines in vineyards in Lodi, California, USA (Photo: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
NASA’s use of aerial imaging technology to identify wine grape diseases has paved the way for producers to act quickly before it is too late.
According to the LA Times news outlet, the technology can detect early symptoms of “grape leaf roll virus,” a plant virus that is spread by aphids, that could only be confirmed by analyzing and testing them individually. And by the time the test results come out, it has already reached the point where the onset of the disease cannot be stopped.
According to statistics, the annual damage and loss in the United States due to the virus is about 3 billion dollars (about 4.8 trillion won), and once the disease spreads, there is no any other treatment other than removing the vine.
But new NASA technology uses infrared imaging from aircraft to determine which vines are showing symptoms, allowing growers to take action before it’s too late. Vine leaf curl disease has an incubation period where it shows no visible symptoms even if infected, which scientists say makes it an ideal model to evaluate the extent of disease detection. n based on image spectroscopy. Also, the technology could be used in other agriculture in the future.
NASA’s findings were published in the journal Phytopathology called ‘Scalability of Early Detection of Vine Virus Infection Using Aerial Imaging Spectroscopy,’ and in a study between September 2020 and September 2021, industry collaborators identified visible virus symptoms. 317 hectares of vines were surveyed individually, and subsets were collected for molecular identification tests. Symptomatic vines identified in 2021 were assumed to be recently infected at the time of imaging, and a random forest model was trained based on ‘spectroscopic signatures of uninfected vines and curl-infected leaves’. It was concluded that the model could distinguish between uninfected and infected vines with a resolution of 1-5 m.
In addition, the best performing models showed 87% accuracy in distinguishing between ‘uninfected and asymptomatic’ vines, and 85% accuracy in distinguishing between ‘uninfected and asymptomatic + symptomatic’ vines.
The research team concluded, “Our work goal is not to replace traditional field search strategies or molecular testing, but rather to use these resources more strategically.”
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