Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117

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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

Hyperspectral vegetation indices for predicting onion (Allium cepa L.)

yield spatial variability
S. Marino ⇑, A. Alvino
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences (DAEFS), University of Molise, Via De Sanctis, I-86100 Campobasso, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An agronomic research was conducted to evaluate the spatial variability of an onion crop, with the aim to
Received 5 December 2014 test Vegetation indices (VIs) as a tool to detect different yield areas.
Received in revised form 5 June 2015 Eleven VIs were derived from geo-referred hyperspectral readings taken at bulbification stage. Eight VIs
Accepted 17 June 2015
showed significant regressions with yield, and grouped in four clusters according to statistical analysis
Available online 28 June 2015
(H = high; Ms and Mi as medium superior and inferior; L = low). Maps were elaborated with ordinary
Kriging. At a visual assessment, many VIs appeared similar to yield map. The surface analysis revealed
Keywords:
that all VIs accurately detected an L area (top of maps) characterized by heavy soil constrains, and the
Onion yield
Vegetation indices
H area on the left side of the map (button and upper part). The best estimation of the total field yield
Spatial variability was obtained by the so-called Soil-line vegetation indices and in particular by TSAVI. This study rein-
Agronomic traits forces the possibility of assessing onion yield by spectroradiometric measurements at field scale.
Ó 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Site-specific crop management offers the potential to improve

Horticulture crops play a significant role in improving the pro-
ductivity of land, generating employment, enhancing exports,
improving economic conditions of the farmers and entrepreneurs
and providing food and nutritional security to the people (Usha
and Singh, 2013). Onions (Allium cepa L.) are one of the world’s old-
est cultivated vegetable, widely cultivated all over the world, with
particular diffusion in the Asian continent and in Europe. Onion is
mainly used as a flavouring to enhance the taste and savour of
numerous dishes and in many countries it is also used as a fresh,
cooked, and dehydrated vegetable (Kumar et al., 2007a).
Growth and development of onion relies on interactions among
genotype, agronomic practices and pedo-climatic conditions.
Agronomic practices can have a significant influence on onion bio-
mass, yield, yield components (weight, number and bulb diameter)
and quality (Martìn de Santa Olalla et al., 2004; Kumar et al.,
2007b). Achieving maximum crop yield at minimum cost with a
lower consumption of resources is one of the goals of agricultural
production and environmental protection. Early detection of agro-
nomic constrains may give a significant impulse to augment the
quality and the quantity of crop yield (Marino et al., 2015). A fur-
ther positive impulse to optimized crop management (Qarallah
et al., 2008) comes from the Variable Rate Applications of inputs.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0874404709; fax: +39 0874404855.
E-mail address: stefanomarino@unimol.it (S. Marino).
crop efficiency by tailoring inputs to address relevant
within-field variability. Successful precision crop management
strategies can lead to improved crop yield, increased profitability,
and decrease of associated adverse environmental and health
impacts (Mulla, 2013).
Remote and proximal sensing techniques can provide an instan-
taneous, non-destructive, and quantitative information about the
agricultural crop conditions and crop spatial variability during crop
cycle (Marino et al., 2014a). From hyperspectral data have been
developed numerous spectral vegetation indices (VIs) (Basso
et al., 2011), which are more sensitive than individual bands of
crop spectra to monitor crop status (Qi et al., 1994).
Nowadays VIs are used to monitor plant conditions, to estimate
plant nutrient status, to detect abiotic and biotic stresses, to asses
plant growth rate; to predict biomass and yield (e.g. Li et al., 2014;
Peñuelas et al., 1993; Marino et al., 2014c).
The best management of certain areas of the field can enhance
the average value of onion yield. The identification during the cul-
tural cycle of the area with the lowest bulbs production could
allow proper field management resulting in increased production
or, if the area had some irresolvable problem, in reducing input
(fertilizers, water, etc.).
Several studies hypothesized the use of VIs to predict yield on
Maize, Corn, Wheat, Barley and tomato (e.g. Marino and Alvino,
2014). There are no evidence in the literature on onion, except
for some papers that have studied the relationship between VIs

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2015.06.014
0168-1699/Ó 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
110 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117

and Leaf area indices (Gupta et al., 2000; Bosch Serra and Casanova,
2000). Furthermore, as reported by Gausman and Allen (1973),
spectroradiometric characteristics of row crop and in particular
of onion crop are very special, in comparison with other 30 plant
species, onion showed the highest leaf thicknesses, the lowest
mean values of infinite reflectance and the lowest scattering coef-
ficient, which was not correlated anyway to leaf thickness.
The experiment was carried out by using hyperspectral radio-
metric measurements, with the following objectives: (i) to assess
the yield spatial variability of an onion crop (ii) to test the ability
of Vegetation Indices, at bulbification stage, to predict the yield
level of different crop areas.
medium organic matter (1.83%), medium content in total N
(1.16 g kg1), moderately alkaline (pH 7.61). The soil of the upper
part of the field (starting from 360 m to 400 m) was stony,
although the texture analysis did not show significant differences.
At harvest time (50 ± 60% of the leaves were dead), the diame-
ter, weight and the number of bulbs were determined at 64
geo-referenced points. Fresh weight of below and above ground
plants was obtained from sampling plots of one square meter.
Dry mass accumulation was obtained leaving plants in a
forced-draft oven at 75 °C to constant weight (Marino et al., 2013).
2.3. Crop spectroradiometric measurements

The radiance over canopy was measured with an ASD FieldSpec

2. Materials and methods
Hand-Held Pro spectroradiometer (Analytical Spectral Device,
Boudler, CO, USA), and converted to spectral reflectance by divid-
2.1. Experimental set-up
ing the radiance reflected by the target by that reflected by a stan-
dard white reference plate (spectralon). This instrument covers the
The study was carried out in 2010 in Central Italy (latitude N
portion of the spectrum between 350 and 1100 nm, with a spectral
41°52.855, longitude E 14°55.728, 30 m a.s.l.) on a plain dedicated
sampling distance of <1.5 nm. Spectral reflectance was measured
to horticultural crops. The onion seedling was the Red Mech (ISI
at nadir in cloud-free days. The height of the optics was, on average
Sementi, Italy), a long-day hybrid, suitable for spring sowing, usu-
80 cm above the canopy. In order to minimize the effects of the
ally harvested in late July and August. The bulbs of good size, char-
sun’s position, reflectance measurements were taken in about
acterized by high homogeneity, have high-top form, full at the
2 h, near solar noon (between 11:00 and 13:00 solar time).
collar; the outer skins are thick and show an intense and brilliant
A total of 64 georeferred spectral measurements were taken at
purplish red color. Red Mech can be stored all winter long and is
140 days after transplanting. Hyperspectral data were smoothed
particularly suitable for mechanical harvesting.
with the Savitzky–Golay filter (Savitzky and Golay, 1964), to
The hybrid was sown on January 25th, at a density of
improve the quality of canopy spectra. The Savitzky–Golay filter
75 seeds m2 on a 50 m  400 m field (2 hectares); harvest started
is based on least squares polynomial fitting across a moving win-
from the first week of August and lasted one week.
dow within the data. After filtering, the following VIs were calcu-
Fertilization was performed using fertilizers and doses com-
lated: NDVI, GNDVI, SAVI, TSAVI, MSAVI, OSAVI, WDVI, PVI, WI,
monly used for the cultivation of onion in central Italy and weeds
TCARI, SAVI2 from canopy spectra according to the formulas
were controlled with specific chemical herbicides.
shown in Table 2. For a detailed discussion of these indices, the
Crop was irrigated by sprinkler with pipes 40 mm in diameter
reader is referred to the references cited in this table.
and the spray heads 50–22 PSI (NAAN, Israel). Daily maximum
and minimum temperatures and rainfall were recorded through
2.4. Statistical analysis
a standard agro-meteorological station (Skye instruments Ltd.,
Llandrindod Wells, UK), placed beside the experimental field
The 64 yield data were analyzed by a clustering method, using
(Table 1). The daily average temperature during the study period
Hierarchical clustering Ward’s minimum variance approach.
(January–August) ranged from 6.5 °C to 25.1 °C, with the minimum
Cluster analysis is a collection of statistical methods that identifies
temperatures recorded in March (4.7 °C) and the maximum tem-
groups of samples that behave similarly or show similar character-
perature recorded in July (37.4 °C). The total rainfall was about
istics. Cluster analysis classifies a set of observations into two or
370 mm, with a uniform distribution. The reference evapotranspi-
more mutually exclusive unknown groups based on combinations
ration (ET0) of the crop cycle was about 856 mm. As a rough esti-
of interval variables. The purpose of the cluster analysis is to dis-
mation, rainfall was about the 40% of ET0; the total amount of
cover a system that can classify observations into groups, in which
water applied was 3500 m3 ha1.
the group members have properties in common. Agglomerative
hierarchical cluster methods produce a hierarchy of clusters from
2.2. Measurements small clusters of very similar items to large clusters that include
items that are more dissimilar. Hierarchical methods usually pro-
The soil texture was recorded by means of 32 geo-refereed sam- duce a graphical output known as a dendrogram, or tree that
ples. The soil was classified as clay and clay loam, with 37% of sand shows this hierarchical clustering structure (Ward, 1963).
(S.D. ±6.69) 20% of silt (S.D. ±3.6) and 42% of clay (S.D. ±5.0), with Agglomerative clustering begins by finding the most similar two
groups, based on the distance matrix, and subsequently merging
them into a single group. This procedure is repeated, step by step,
Table 1
until all the samples have been added to a single large cluster. The
Ten-day averages rainfall, minimum (T min) maximum (T max) and mean temper-
atures (T mean) and evapotranspiration (ETo) during crop seasons. final partition is identified by a distance criterion (Fernández and
Gómez, 2008). Starting from the bottom part of the dendrogram,
Rainfall T min T max T mean ET0
the researcher decides to stop the agglomeration process when
January 40.6 2 17.5 6.5 27 successive clusters are too far apart to be merged.
February 66.4 2.8 22.3 8.2 41
March 43.2 4.7 26 9.7 68
April 49.0 0.9 25.8 12.7 123
2.4.1. Assessing normality
May 45.4 6.8 29.9 17.6 153 Shapiro–Wilk method, Lilliefors method, Anderson–Darling
June 63.0 8.9 36.7 21.3 177 method and D’Agostino et al. method were used to check the
July 37.6 13.7 37.4 25.1 212 normality assumption as described by Marino et al. (2014a). The
Augusta 1.80 16.8 30 23.6 54.6
rejection of one or more of this test is a symptom of
a
August: first decade. non-normality distribution.
 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117 111

2.4.2. Non-parametric ANOVA by Kruskal–Wallis

Richardson and Wiegan (1977)

The Kruskal–Wallis test (Kruskal and Wallis, 1952) is most com-

Peñuelas et al. (1993,1997)

monly used when there is one nominal variable and one measure-
ment variable, and the measurement variable does not meet the
Rondeaux et al. (1996)

Gitelson et al. (1996)

normality assumption. It can be interpreted as the non-parametric
Rouse et al. (1974)

Major et al. (1990)

Baret et al. (1989)

Kim et al. (1994)

alternative to classical one-way Analysis of Variance test. A
Qi et al. (1994)
Clevers, 1989
Huete (1988)

one-way ANOVA may yield inaccurate estimates of the P-value

References

when the data are very far from normal distribution. The Kruskal–
Wallis test does not make assumptions about normality. Like most
non-parametric tests, it is performed on ranked data, so the mea-
surement observations are converted to their ranks in the overall
data set. The KW test verifies whether three or more independent
groups have same distribution. All statistical procedures were com-
(R800  R670)/(R800 + R670 + (1 + (1–1.234^2 ⁄ R800  (1.2344 ⁄ R670) ⁄ (R800  R670)/(R800 + R670))))

puted using the statistical packages IBM SPSS 21 (IBM Inc. USA) and
OriginPRO 8 (Origin Lab Corporation, Northampton, MA 01060,
USA).

2.4.3. Regression analysis

(1.2344 ⁄ (R800  1.2344 ⁄ R670  0.0183))/(1.2344 ⁄ R800 + R670  1.2344 ⁄ 0.0183)

Regression analysis, coefficients of determination, significance

levels and RMSE were computed on the 64 geo-referred yield data
and VIs ones, using the statistical package Origin PRO 8 (Origin Lab
Corporation, Northampton MA 01060 USA).

2.4.4. Geostatistical analysis

Ordinary kriging (OK) is a commonly used linear method of
1/RADQ(1.2344^2 + 1 ⁄ (R800  1.2344 ⁄ R670  0.0183))

3 ⁄ ((R700  R670)  0.2 ⁄ (R700  R550) ⁄ (R700/R670))

spatial prediction to provide estimates of variables at unvisited

sites. The procedure uses information from neighbouring points
to predict at a target point [1]; weights are assigned to these points
(1 + 0.16) ⁄ (R800  R670)/(R800 + R670 + 0.16)
(R800  R670)/(R800 + R670 + 0.5)) ⁄ (1 + 0.5)

based on their distance from the target. The equation for ordinary
punctual kriging is:
Reflectance index, formulation and references of vegetation indices obtained from spectral reflectance measurements.

X
n
Z OK ðx0 Þ ¼ W i Zðxi Þ ð1Þ
(R800  R670)/(R800 + R670)

(R800  R550)/(R800 + R670)

R800/(R670 + 0.0183/1.2344)

i¼1
R800  (1.2344 ⁄ R670)

where Z*OK (x0) is the OK estimate at an unsampled location (x0), n is

the number of samples in the search neighbourhood, wi are the
weights assigned to the ith observation z(xi).
Formulation

Weights are assigned to each sample such that the estimation

R900/R970

or kriging variance, E = [{Z⁄(x0)  Z(x0)}2], is minimized and the

estimates are unbiased (Webster and Oliver 2007). The weights
depend on the relative positions of the samples in the neighbour-
ing both to one another and to the target point, and on the vari-
ogram. The latter describes the spatial correlation and covariance
Transformed chlorophyll absorption in reflectance index (TCARI)

structure between data points for each variable [2]. The variogram
can be computed by Matheron (1965) usual method of moments as
follows:
Green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI)
Transformed soil-adjusted vegetation index (TSAVI)

mðhÞ
X
Optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index (OSAVI)

Modified soil-adjusted vegetation index (MSAVI)

2
^¼
y ½zðxi þ hÞ  zðxi Þ ð2Þ
Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)

Second soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI2)

Weighted difference vegetation index (WDVI)

i¼1
Soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI)

where y is the semivariance between two observation points, z(xi)

Perpendicular vegetation index (PVI)

and z(xi + h), separated by a distance h, and m(h) is the number of

pairs at h.
The best variogram model for each parameter was selected
based on cross validation. Cross validation was performed using
mean error (ME), root mean square error (RMSE) and standardized
Vegetation indices

Water index (WI)

mean square error (SMSE) (Delhomme, 1978; Merino et al., 2001)

(Table 3). The semivariogram was computed using GS+ version 8,
while kriging was done using surfer version 9 (Golden software,
Golden, Colorado, USA) according to Selvaraja et al. (2012), with
Table 2

x; y representing the UTM coordinates (expressed in meters), and

z the parameter values.
112 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117

Table 3
Semivariogram parameters (model, nugget effect, sill, range) and cross validation (mean square ME, root mean square error RMSE and standardized mean squared error) used to
onion yield, and vegetation indexes kriging map.

Model Nugget Sill Range ME Residual

RMSE SMSE
Yield Spherical 0.343 0.782 61.1 0.640872 0.800545 1.001889
TSAVI Spherical 0.0032 0.0164 59.0 0.0146 0.12067 1.000008
SAVI Spherical 0.0042 0.0073 61.2 0.0073 0.08544 1.000082
NDVI Spherical 0.0028 0.0111 54.0 0.0111 0.10539 1.000062
PVI Spherical 0.0001 0.0002 52.6 0.0002 0.01413 1.000110
OSAVI Spherical 0.0040 0.0084 51.1 0.0094 0.09709 1.000002
WDVI Spherical 0.0027 0.0036 59.9 0.0052 0.07232 1.195542
MSAVI Spherical 0.0009 0.0016 62.6 0.0011 0.03260 1.000102
GDVI Spherical 0.0016 0.0045 59.0 0.0052 0.07232 1.000002

3. Results and discussion

Table 4
The field average value of onion yield crop was 6.57 kg m2, with
Cluster centroids: mean (StdDev) of 64 georeferenced yield data, split into four
different clusters: high (H), medium superior (Ms), medium inferior (Mi) and low (L)
the lowest data of 3.00 kg m2and the highest yield 9.40 kg m2,
according to hierarchical clustering analysis with Euclidean distance and Ward’s link these values indicate the presence of a significant variability in
aggregation. the field. Yield data were split in cluster groupings to better under-
H Ms Mi L
stand the crop field variability. The cluster selection procedure
identified four clusters, labelled as (H) High-value cluster; (Ms)
Yield (kg h1) 8.29 (0.53) 7.20 (0.21) 6.57 (0.21) 5.36 (0.74)
Medium-superior-value cluster; (Mi) Medium-inferior-value clus-
ter and (L) Low-value cluster. The yield onion mean related to H
cluster was 8.29 kg m2, 13% higher than Ms cluster (7.20 kg m2),
20% higher than Mi cluster (6.57 kg m2) and 35% higher than L
cluster (5.36 kg m2) (Table 4).
According to cluster selection analysis, georeferenced yield data
were spatialized with geostatistical analysis (Ordinary Kriging) to
best investigate the yield spatial variability of the onion field crop.
Fig. 1 shows yield onion map, three H zones were detected on the
left side of the field, the first one starting from 10 to 40 m (on the
long side), the second one from 110 to 120 m and the third area
starting from 270 to 340 m, spreading up to 20 m into the field.
The total surface of H area was calculated to be 1300 m2 (6% of
total surfaces). Two Ms area surrounding the H area, with a
surfaces of about 4200 m2 (21% of total surfaces) were detected.
The widest surface has been defined as the area Mi, with about
11,700 m2, which included the right part of the field from 0 to
150 m, and most of the field starting from 150 m to 360 m. The
incidence of the Mi zone was the highest, and equal to the 59%
of the total area of the crop field. The less productive areas (14%
of total surfaces) have been identified in the lower right part of

Fig. 1. Spatial distribution of onion yield (kg m2), divided into high (H), medium
superior (Ms), medium inferior (Mi) and low (L) zones, as modeled by ordinary Fig. 2. Spectral reflectance at vis–NIR wavelength of onion crop at high (H),
kriging. medium superior (Ms), medium inferior (Mi) and low (L), onion yield level.
 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117 113

Fig. 3. The onion bulbs yield plotted versus TSAVI, SAVI, NDVI, PVI, OSAVI, WDVI, MSAVI and GNDVI.
114 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117

the field (two areas) and in the upper part starting from 360 m, between indices and onion yield, according to several studies that
with a total area of about 2700 m2. have established that the linear relationship provides better corre-
Spectroradiometric measurements were taken at bulbification lation among VIs and crops growth and yield (Còrcoles et al., 2013;
stage to identify ex-post the best Vegetation Indices significantly Gupta et al., 2000).
related to yield for evaluating the potential of VIs to detect field The different clusters selection zones computed by Kruskal–
variability in onion yield before harvest. Readings were taken at Wallis one-way analysis-of-variance were also reported in Fig. 3
bulbification stage according to the findings of Martìn de Santa to analyze and evaluate the distribution of clusters in the regres-
Olalla et al. (2004), who noticed very little variations of some sions. It is important to emphasize and reiterate that the clusters
indices (e.g. NDVI) when measured at the bulbification stages. were created on the yield basis and statistical tests were used to
Martìn de Santa Olalla et al. (2004) has found that, the little varia- verify (a posteriori) the dependence conditioning of the different
tion could be due to the reason that leaves are nearly vertical and variables, compared to the four clusters. The clustering did not pro-
thus offer less interaction cross-section and the plant-soil exposure vide ready explanations for the yield variability but indicated the
proportion in the top-down radiometric measurement would presence of yield variability, and can help to determine the
change very little. In fact, Gupta et al. (2000) states that the vertical yield-limiting factors on the field and appropriate management
architecture of canopy is responsible for the slower rate of zones (Vrindts et al., 2005). It is also important to remark that
decrease for Vegetation indices (NDVI in particular). After the bulb- the average cluster of eight VIs were significantly different from
ification stage, the moisture content of the leaves decreases and each other (Table 5), with besides TSAVI, OSAVI, NDVI and SAVI
consequently its stem begins to shrink. Gupta et al. (2000) found indices with a greater range of the average minimum and maxi-
that the chlorophyll absorption in the red band comes down mum reflectance values.
(increasing the reflected signal in the red band), and reflected sig- The Water Index, SAVI2 and TCARI do not have a significant cor-
nal in the near-infrared band decreases, as well. After bulbification relation with plant yield, probably because the reflectance differ-
stage, the leaves begin to fall, resulting in fall of indices value; with ences among minimum and maximum value in all sampling
the result that the significance of correlation among LAI, yield and dates are too small. In literature, different studies confirmed the
VIs decreases (Gupta et al., 2000; Marino et al., 2013). Furthermore, possibility to have no correlation due to very close values to each
the use of remote sensing on onion crop growth at the early stages other (Römer et al., 2012).
has not yet been successful because, as reported by Bosch Serra The significant regression between the vegetation indices and
and Casanova (2000), onion crop grows in rows and its biomass yield gave no information about the spatial yield variability and
at the early stages is very small. on the ability of the VIs to identify areas with onion yield loss,
Starting from the spectroradiometric measurements, the first for this reason, a VIs maps to analyze the spatial distribution of
step was to detect differences in the spectra vegetation curves, the best indices were elaborated. Fig. 4 shows the eight maps
the mean of all the georeferenced spectra of four clusters (H, Ms, derived from the indices significantly correlated with yield. By a
Mi and L) are presented in Fig. 2. The curves showed differences visual assessment all VIs showed only two H zones on the left side
among clusters: up to 700 lm a lower reflectance for the H sam- of the field, characterized by different surfaces and different accu-
ples was recorded compared to Ms, Mi and L respectively. From racy in the identification of the yield H area.
700 lm and up to 1075 lm the situation was reversed, with the All maps also identified with different accuracy, the area
higher reflectance samples recorded by H followed by Ms, Mi surrounding the H area (Ms); instead, all indices overestimate
and L samples. The difference among reflectance curves is gov- the production of an area located on the left side of the field and
erned by internal leaf structure, leaf surface properties and by at the central part of the field. This was probability due to a
the concentration and distribution of bio-chemical component momentary state of best plant health (e.g. effect of fertilizations)
(Peñuelas et al., 1997). Starting from geo-referred reflectance mea- compared to the surrounding area, that has not been reflected in
surements, eleven VIs were calculated and correlated to the equiv- the Onion yield at harvest. Except for the GNDVI, the other indices
alent geo-refereed yield samples. Out of eleven VIs, eight indices have clearly identified the Mi area, and as we expected, in some
(Fig. 3) showed significant regression curves (R2 0.61–0.67). The cases VIs have overestimated onion yield and in other cases have
best relation was found by TSAVI (R2 0.67), followed by SAVI, PVI underestimated it. The L area placed in the bottom right part of
and NDVI indices (R2 = 0.66), followed by WDVI (R2 = 0.64) and at the field has not been identified by VIs, except for GNDVI, while
last OSAVI, GNDVI (R2 = 0.62) and MSAVI (R2 0.61). In our case, the L area placed in the upper part of the field has been well iden-
the linear model was the best at describing the relationship tified by all the indices. Soil analysis on the L area at the end of the
field showed soil constrains due to the high presence of skeleton,
the soil was alkaline (pH = 8 , 15), with high values of CaCO3
(21%), that explains the differences in yield respect to other field
Table 5
Mean of 64 georeferenced data, yield and VIs data, split into four different zones: high areas and emphasizes the need to differently manage this area.
(H), medium superior (Ms), medium inferior (Mi) and low (L) processed by Kruskal– Calcareous soils, as reported by Alam et al. (2010) negatively affect,
Wallis one-way analysis of variance (* Significant at the 0.05 probability level; in onion, the macronutrients uptake (Zn, B, Mo, Mn, Cu, Cl) and, as
**
Significant at the 0.01 probability level; n.s. – not significant). a consequence onion growth and yield.
H Ms Mi L Kruskal–Wallis KW (corr.ties) As found by Maguire (2000), precise information on the charges
Yield 8.29 7.20 6.57 5.36 –** –**
in soil type could be used for example to modify the seed rate of
TSAVI 0.75 0.71 0.66 0.45 –** –** onion seeds to improve the size uniformity of the onion crop,
SAVI 0.54 0.51 0.44 0.30 –** –** and increasing marketable yield.
NDVI 0.77 0.74 0.69 0.52 –** –** The other two L areas on the bottom part to the right of the field
PVI 0.74 0.74 0.76 0.78 –** –**
have not been identified by the indices, except for the NDVI which
OSAVI 0.65 0.62 0.56 0.40 –** –**
WDVI 0.32 0.30 0.24 0.15 –** –** underestimates the areas, and that GNDVI with an overestimation
MSAVI 0.16 0.15 0.12 0.08 –** –** of the areas. TSAVI, SAVI, OSAVI, MSAVI and NDVI seemed able to
GNDVI 0.67 0.64 0.62 0.51 –** –** return the best response, partly confirmed by surface computing.
SAVI 2 5.80 5.70 5.10 4.80 n.s. n.s. TSAVI is the most closely index to the yield map, with an underes-
TCARI 0.27 0.27 0.26 0.23 n.s. n.s.
WI 1.15 1.13 1.11 1.10 n.s. n.s.
timation of H, Ms and L zones (29%, 7% and 23% respectively)
and an overestimation of Mi zones (+11%) (Fig. 5). The Transformed
 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117 115

Fig. 4. Spatial distribution of TSAVI, SAVI, NDVI, PVI, OSAVI, WDVI, MSAVI and GNDVI indices divided into high (H), medium superior (Ms), medium inferior (Mi) and low (L)
zones, as modeled by ordinary kriging.
116 S. Marino, A. Alvino / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116 (2015) 109–117
Fig. 5. Surface incidence (%) of onion yield and vegetation indices (TSAVI, SAVI,
NDVI, PVI, OSAVI, WDVI, MSAVI and GNDVI) maps divided into high (H), medium
superior (Ms), medium inferior (Mi) and low (L) zones.
Soil Vegetation Index is widely used for the ability to minimize the
contribution of soil reflectance to the canopy reflectance and is
therefore used in different crops to predict crop growth and yield
variables. In agreement with what found by Qi et al. (1994),
Rondeaux et al. (1996), Huete (1988) on other crops, TSAVI per-
formed better than other indices to detect crop variability. SAVI,
OSAVI and NDVI were the indices that best identified, behind the
TSAVI, the spatial variability of the field. In detail, SAVI have under-
estimated the H, Ms and L area (incidence of surfaces about 25%
of difference from yield surface) and have overestimated the Mi
area (about 25% of difference from yield surface). OSAVI and
NDVI have underestimate H, Mi and L areas (difference from yield
surface: about 75% for H area, 2% for Mi area and 30% for L
area) and have overestimate the Ms area (difference from yield
surface: about +50%).
All other indices have less identified the surfaces of different
areas. However important differences were found in the identifica-
tion of several areas, despite this, it would seem that the use of
some VIs could be useful to identify and to mark zones with similar
characteristics, and a valid support to improve field monitoring
and field management.
Among VIs, the best performance was obtained by the so-called
Soil-line vegetation indices, which use the information of soil line
in NIR-Red reflectance to reduce the effect of the soil on canopy
reflectance [Soil Adjusted Vegetative Index (SAVI); Optimized Soil
Adjusted Vegetative Index (OSAVI); Transformed Soil Adjusted
Vegetative Index (TSAVI)]. This appears to be a normal result, given
that as reported by Tei et al. (1996), ground cover is a useful indi-
cation of light interception for prostrate leaves, but is less useful
for crops with erect leaves like onion because only a small fraction
of incident radiation is vertical. Onion showed a lower early rela-
tive growth rate than other crops; this was due partly to the low
light interception ability of the crop canopy and partly to the low
initial radiation use efficiency compared with that of the other
two crops. On the other hand, thanks to a uniform distribution of
the radiation inside the canopy, to the cessation of leaf develop-
ment after the start of bulbing, and to the lower costs of storage
and maintenance in the later phase of growth, onion showed high
radiation use efficiency and was able to produce a large amount of
dry matter. Its growth limits seem to be the low light interception
due to the leaf posture and to the relatively short duration of a high
ground cover compared with the length of bulbing process
(Brewster, 1990).
4. Conclusion
Onion hybrid Red Mech showed good average bulb yield
(6.57 kg m2), characterized by a high yield variability, ranging
from 3 kg m2 to 9.40 kg m2. Cluster analysis on georeferenced
yield data identified four clusters with increasing productivity
(H = high; Ms and Mi as medium superior and inferior; L = low).
The yield map was elaborated according to Ordinary Kriging and
it has clearly identified four productive zones characterized from
the following mean values, 8.29 kg m2 for H yield area, 7.2 kg m2
for Ms area, 6.57 kg m2 for Mi and 5.36 kg m2 for L area.
Spectroradiometric georeferenced measurements were
recorded at onion bulbification with the aim to identify
Vegetation Indices correlated to onion yield. Eight of eleven VIs
showed a significant linear regression with yield (R2 from 0.61 to
0.67).
However, only four indices (TSAVI, SAVI, OSAVI and e NDVI)
were able to detect yield spatial variability according to four clus-
ters. The above-mentioned indices well detected the surfaces with
lowest yield (L area) in the upper part of the field. The H yield sur-
faces area (6% of total surface) were very similar to those of TSAVI
and SAVI (5% of total surface). Ms and Mi yield area were well iden-
tified only by TSAVI index that showed the best performance
among VIs. Given the onion plant characteristics, also linked to
an incomplete soil cover, TSAVI seemed to be more effective than
others indices to identify onion yield spatial variability; it was
unfortunately unable to identify several yield spot areas (e.g. lower
than 150 m2).
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