Research Article | Open Access

Volume 2021 |Article ID 9846470 | https://doi.org/10.34133/2021/9846470

Deep Multiview Image Fusion for Soybean Yield Estimation in Breeding Applications

Luis G. RieraiD ,¹ Matthew E. Carroll,² Zhisheng ZhangiD ,¹ Johnathon M. Shook,² Sambuddha Ghosal,¹ Tianshuang GaoiD ,³ Arti Singh,² Sourabh BhattacharyaiD ,¹ Baskar GanapathysubramanianiD ,¹ Asheesh K. Singh iD ,² and Soumik Sarkar iD ¹

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
²Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
³Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA

Abstract

Reliable seed yield estimation is an indispensable step in plant breeding programs geared towards cultivar development in major row crops. The objective of this study is to develop a machine learning (ML) approach adept at soybean (Glycine max L. (Merr.)) pod counting to enable genotype seed yield rank prediction from in-field video data collected by a ground robot. To meet this goal, we developed a multiview image-based yield estimation framework utilizing deep learning architectures. Plant images captured from different angles were fused to estimate the yield and subsequently to rank soybean genotypes for application in breeding decisions. We used data from controlled imaging environment in field, as well as from plant breeding test plots in field to demonstrate the efficacy of our framework via comparing performance with manual pod counting and yield estimation. Our results demonstrate the promise of ML models in making breeding decisions with significant reduction of time and human effort and opening new breeding method avenues to develop cultivars.