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About

About

Ricardo Braga holds the following academic degrees: Bachelor degree in Agronomy / Agricultural Engineering (1993) from Instituto Superior de Agronomia / University of Lisbon, Portugal; Master of Science in Tropical Agricultural Production (1996) from Instituto Superior de Agronomia / University of Lisbon, Portugal; Doctor of Philosophy in Agricultural Operations Management (2000) from University of Florida, USA. He currently is Assistant Professor (2013 - ) at Instituto Superior de Agronomia, University of Lisbon, where he teaches courses at the Bachelor and Master levels in general agriculture and machinery, precision agriculture and modeling of agricultural systems. He has participated in many projects in the areas of precision agriculture, crop management optimization, and technology dissemination and adoption.

Details

Details

Publications

2022

Overcoming the challenge of bunch occlusion by leaves for vineyard yield estimation using image analysis

Authors
Victorino, G; Braga, RP; Santos Victor, J; Lopes, CM;

Publication
OENO ONE

Abstract
Accurate yield estimation is of utmost importance for the entire grape and wine production chain, yet it remains an extremely challenging process due to high spatial and temporal variability in vineyards. Recent research has focused on using image analysis for vineyard yield estimation, with one of the major obstacles being the high degree of occlusion of bunches by leaves. This work uses canopy features obtained from 2D images (canopy porosity and visible bunch area) as proxies for estimating the proportion of occluded bunches by leaves to enable automatic yield estimation on non-disturbed canopies. Data was collected from three grapevine varieties, and images were captured from 1 m segments at two phenological stages (veraison and full maturation) in non-defoliated and partially defoliated vines. Visible bunches (bunch exposure; BE) varied between 16 and 64 %. This percentage was estimated using a multiple regression model that includes canopy porosity and visible bunch area as predictors, yielding a R2 between 0.70 and 0.84 on a training set composed of 70 % of all data, showing an explanatory power 10 to 43 % higher than when using the predictors individually. A model based on the combined data set (all varieties and phenological stages) was selected for BE estimation, achieving a R2 = 0.80 on the validation set. This model did not show validation metrics differences when applied on data collected at veraison or full maturation, suggesting that BE can be accurately estimated at any stage. Bunch exposure was then used to estimate total bunch area (tBA), showing low errors (< 10 %) except for the variety Arinto, which presents specific morphological traits such as large leaves and bunches. Finally, yield estimation computed from estimated tBA presented a very low error (0.2 %) on the validation data set with pooled data. However, when performed on every single variety, the simplified approach of area-to-mass conversion was less accurate for the variety Syrah. The method demonstrated in this work is an important step towards a fully automated non-invasive yield estimation approach, as it offers a solution to estimate bunches that are not visible to imaging sensors.

2022

Assessing the Contribution of ECa and NDVI in the Delineation of Management Zones in a Vineyard

Authors
Esteves, C; Fangueiro, D; Braga, RP; Martins, M; Botelho, M; Ribeiro, H;

Publication
AGRONOMY-BASEL

Abstract
Precision fertilization implies the need to identify the variability of soil fertility, which is costly and time-consuming. Remotely measured data can be a solution. Using this strategy, a study was conducted, in a vineyard, to delineate different management zones using two indicators: apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). To understand the contribution of each indicator, three scenarios were used for zone definition: (1) using only NDVI, (2) only ECa, or (3) using a combination of the two. Then the differences in soil fertility between these zones were assessed using simple statistical methods. The results indicate that the most beneficial strategy is the combined use of the two indicators, as it allowed the definition of three distinct zones regarding important soil variables and crop nutrients, such as soil total nitrogen, Mg2+ cation, exchange acidity, and effective cation exchange capacity, and some relevant cation ratios. This strategy also allowed the identification of an ionic unbalance in the soil chemistry, due to an excess of Mg2+, that was harming crop health, as reported by NDVI. This also impacted ECa and NDVI relationship, which was negative in this study. Overall, the results demonstrate the advantages of using remotely sensed data, mainly more than one type of sensing data, and suggest a high potential for differential crop fertilization and soil management in the study area.

2022

Comparing a New Non-Invasive Vineyard Yield Estimation Approach Based on Image Analysis with Manual Sample-Based Methods

Authors
Victorino, G; Braga, RP; Santos-Victor, J; Lopes, CM;

Publication
AGRONOMY-BASEL

Abstract
Manual vineyard yield estimation approaches are easy to use and can provide relevant information at early stages of plant development. However, such methods are subject to spatial and temporal variability as they are sample-based and dependent on historical data. The present work aims at comparing the accuracy of a new non-invasive and multicultivar, image-based yield estimation approach with a manual method. Non-disturbed grapevine images were collected from six cultivars, at three vineyard plots in Portugal, at the very beginning of veraison, in a total of 213 images. A stepwise regression model was used to select the most appropriate set of variables to predict the yield. A combination of derived variables was obtained that included visible bunch area, estimated total bunch area, perimeter, visible berry number and bunch compactness. The model achieved an R2 = 0.86 on the validation set. The image-based yield estimates outperformed manual ones on five out of six cultivar data sets, with most estimates achieving absolute errors below 10%. Higher errors were observed on vines with denser canopies. The studied approach has the potential to be fully automated and used across whole vineyards while being able to surpass most bunch occlusions by leaves.

2021

A Simple Application for Computing Reference Evapotranspiration with Various Levels of Data Availability-ETo Tool

Authors
Rodrigues, GC; Braga, RP;

Publication
AGRONOMY-BASEL

Abstract
Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimations may be used to improve the efficiency of irrigated agriculture. However, its computation can be complex and could require numerous weather data that are not always available for many locations. Different methods are available to estimate ETo when limited data are available, and the assessment of the most accurate one can be difficult and time consuming. There are some standalone softwares available for computing ETo but none of them allow for the comparison of different methods for the same or different datasets simultaneously. This paper aims to present an application for estimating ETo using several methods that require different levels of data availability, namely FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM), the Original and the three modified Hargreaves-Samani (HS and MHS1, MHS2 and MHS3), Trajkovic (TR) and the single temperature procedure (MaxTET). Also, it facilitates the comparison of the accuracy estimation of two selected methods. From an example case, for where the application was used to compute ETo for three different locations, results show that the application can easily and successfully estimate ETo using the proposed methods, allowing for statistical comparison of those estimations. HS proves to be the most accurate method for the studied locations; however, the accuracy of all methods tends to be lower for costal locations than for more continental sites. With this application, users can select the best ETo estimation methods for a specific location and use it for irrigation purposes.

2021

A Simple Procedure to Estimate Reference Evapotranspiration during the Irrigation Season in a Hot-Summer Mediterranean Climate

Authors
Rodrigues, GC; Braga, RP;

Publication
SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Penman-Monteith (PM) method is widely regarded as the most effective reference evapotranspiration (ETo) estimator; however, it requires a wide range of data that may be scarce in some rural regions. When feasible relative humidity, solar radiation and wind speed data are unavailable, a temperature-based method may be useful to estimate ETo and provide suitable data to support irrigation management. This study has evaluated the accuracy of two ETo estimations methods: (1) a locally and monthly adjusted Hargreaves-Samani (HS) equation; (2) a simple procedure that only uses maximum temperature and a temperature adjustment coefficient (MaxTET). Results show that, if a monthly adjusted radiation adjustment coefficient (k(Rs)) is calibrated for each site, acceptable ETo estimations (RMSE and R-2 equal to 0.79 for the entire region) can be achieved. Results also show that a procedure to estimate ETo based only on maximum temperature performs acceptably, when compared with ETo estimation using PM equation (RMSE = 0.83 mm day(-1) and R-2 = 0.77 for Alentejo). When comparing these results with the ones attained when adopting a monthly adjusted HS method, the MaxTET procedure proves to be an accurate ETo estimator. Results also show that both methods can be used to estimate ETo when weather data are scarce.