13TSB_AgriFood Developing a vision system to enhance phenotyping in apples (Pomevision)

即使在种植季节，英国的苹果也不能自给自足，只能满足自己消费的三分之一，不足的部分由进口弥补。其中很大一部分是由于我们无法满足超市对1类水果设定的严格规格，这类水果占销售额的80%。我们的联盟代表了英国20%的苹果产量；我们的记录显示，类似的果园的产出可能相差2到3倍，不合格的水果要么被浪费掉，要么被进行低价值的加工。这种差异很大程度上取决于管理实践。我们的分销成员相信，通过标准化果园管理的最佳实践，以及培育新品种的战略方法，我们可以使我们的果园至少收回10万吨的进口量。该项目旨在通过改进管理实践和战略性数据采集，加快英国苹果园质量和产量参数改善的步伐。为此，我们需要详细的管理信息，迄今为止，由于人工检查的劳动密集型和主观性，这些信息一直非常缺乏。该项目开发了一种新的基于视觉的作物测量技术，该技术基于最先进的具有成本效益的图像捕获技术（现在可以使用消费级相机而不是昂贵的科学仪器）和我们新的图像处理算法之间的融合。这些工具将用于详细识别和记录商业相关的表型性状。这些数据可用于产量和质量的季节预测和管理，通过在更长的时间尺度上转移“最佳实践”来优化整个英国的商业产量，最后与最近完成的苹果基因组测序相结合，确定最佳标记，以更有效地培育具有最佳商业（以及生物）性状的新精英品种。该项目的目标包括识别和优化最具商业效益的性状，开发一个自动化的田间系统，定期测量这些性状的状态和发展，以应对压力和管理活动，决策支持输出和启动英国新型商业品种战略发展计划所需的新知识。该联盟由商界领导，以英国最大的苹果生产商和供应集团Worldwide Fruit的形式，由将新平台技术商业化的技术开发人员加入，并得到East Malling Research的支持，该研究是世界上的果学和苹果品种开发专家，他们将制定表型图谱并传播与改良品种遗传标记相关的学术成果。该集团拥有在英国研究、开发、商业化和利用该技术的技能，并将在欧洲范围内开发和/或随着产量的增长授权给其他制造商。TSB的支持是推动这一创新跨越商业与学术差距所需的催化剂，而该计划带来的曝光将帮助我们更快地渗透市场。对英国苹果种植者行业的潜在好处是：提高产品质量（规格内百分比），以更好地满足超市尺寸和均匀性规格，节省高达4000万英镑的浪费产品；通过“最佳实践”的识别和转移，将英国平均种植强度提高50%，再增加5000万英镑的产能；并使英国有能力在战略上引领世界新品种的快速发展，将引进时间缩短可能长达5年

The UK is not self-sufficient in apples, even during the cropping season, providing only one third of our own consumptionwith the shortfall made up by imports. A large proportion of this is due to our inability to meet the stringent specification setby supermarkets for Class 1 fruit, which represents 80% of sales. Our consortium represents 20% of the apple crop in theUK; our records show that similar orchards can have outputs that vary by a factor of 2 or 3, with reject fruit going to wasteor low value processing. A significant amount of this variation is down to management practice. Our distribution membersbelieve that, by standardising best-practice orchard management, and with a strategic approach to breeding new cultivars,we could gear up our orchards to take back at least 100,000T of the imported volume.This project is designed to enhance the pace of improvement of quality and output parameters in UK apple orchardsthrough improving management practices and strategic data capture. For this, we need detailed management information,which has been sorely lacking due to the labour-intensive and subjective nature of manual checks to date. The projectdevelops a novel vision-based crop measurement technology based on the convergence between state-of-the-art costeffective image capture technology (now achievable using consumer grade cameras instead of expensive scientificinstruments) and our new image processing algorithms. These tools will be used to identify and record commerciallyrelevant phenotype traits in detail. This data can be used for yield and quality prediction and management in season, forthe optimisation of commercial yields across the UK through the transfer of 'best practice' over a longer timescale, andfinally to tie in with the recently completed sequencing of the apple genome, to identify the best markers to more effectivelybreed new elite cultivars with the best commercial (as well as biological) traits.The project objectives include the identification and optimisation of the most commercially effective traits, the developmentof an automated in-field system to regularly measure the status and development of these traits in response to stress andmanagement activities, decision support outputs and the new knowledge required to start the UK strategic developmentprogramme for new types of commercial cultivar.The consortium is led by business, in the form of Worldwide Fruit, the UK's largest apple producer and supply group, joinedby technology developers who will commercialise the novel platform technology, and supported by East Malling Research,world experts in pomology and apple cultivar development, who will set out the phenotype maps and disseminate theacademic outputs relating to genetic markers for improved cultivars. The group has the skills to research, develop,commercialise and exploit the technology in the UK, and will exploit within Europe and/or licence to other manufacturers asvolumes grow. TSB support is the catalyst needed to drive this innovation across the business-academia gap, while theexposure the scheme brings will help us to penetrate the market more quickly.Potential benefits to the UK apple growers' industry are: raising production quality (percentage within spec.) to better meetsupermarket size and uniformity specifications, saving up to £40M of wasted product; increasing the UK average croppingintensity by up to 50% through 'best practice' identification and transfer, growing capacity by a further £50M; and giving theUK the capability to strategically lead the world in the rapid development of new cultivars, shortening the introduction time by potentially up to 5 years