OrchardQuant 3D system allows accurate 3D mapping of apple and pear orchards, helping growers maximise production and adapt to climate change
NIAB, the Nanjing Agricultural University in China, and a team of international partners have developed new technology to measure fruit trees in three dimensions with unprecedented accuracy.
Using drone cameras and LiDAR sensors, the new system called OrchardQuant 3D creates detailed 3D models of apple and pear orchards to capture each tree’s height, crown volume, branch structure, and blossom density – among other traits that determine fruit yield and quality.
These metrics can be used to improve agronomic decisions, such as thinning and pruning, and to create dose prescription maps for variable-rate spray machines. This can optimise the crop load for each tree in the orchard, driving up orchard productivity despite changes to climate and growing conditions.
Successfully demonstrated in pear orchards in China and apple orchards at NIAB in the UK, the technology can scale from tens to thousands of trees, automating processes that previously required weeks of manual assessment.
NIAB crop protection specialist Dr Charles Whitfield said: “This innovation addresses a critical bottleneck in horticulture: phenotyping at scale.
“Traditional methods are labour-intensive and often unable to keep pace with modern orchard systems or changing environmental conditions.
“By combining colour and spatial data, OrchardQuant 3D provides actionable insights for breeding, management and research, paving the way for more resilient, sustainable and high-quality fruit production.”
The codebase for the software has been released openly, enabling rapid adoption by scientists and growers worldwide. The methodology is currently a research tool but may become more widely available in the future.
NIAB says future developments aim to integrate yield prediction, disease monitoring and advanced decision support.
The organisation added that crop breeders will also be able to use the system to help precisely quantify tree traits, improve the efficiency of breeding programmes, and develop new varieties better suited to the future, including changes in climate and orchards being maintained by increasingly automated systems.
Professor Ji Zhou, who led the NIAB research team in the UK alongside his team at Nanjing, said the technology will “drive improvements to orchard management and productivity, leading to more Class 1 fruit per tree and ultimately a better return per hectare for the UK’s hard fruit production”.
Part of the research was completed as part of NIAB’s Precision Orchard Management and Environment (POME) project, funded by Defra and Innovate UK.
