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

即使在收获季节，英国的苹果也不能自给自足，只提供了我们自己消费量的三分之一，而进口弥补了这一缺口。这在很大程度上是因为我们无法满足超市对1类水果的严格要求，1类水果占销售额的80%。我们的联盟代表了英国20%的苹果收成；我们的记录显示，类似的果园的产量可能会相差2到3倍，丢弃的水果将被浪费或进行低价值的加工。这种差异在很大程度上要归因于管理实践。我们的分销成员相信，通过标准化的最佳实践果园管理，以及培育新品种的战略方法，我们可以使我们的果园加快步伐，收回至少100,000吨的进口量。该项目旨在通过改进管理实践和战略数据捕获，加快英国苹果园质量和产量参数的改进步伐。为此，我们需要详细的管理信息，但由于人工检查的劳动密集性和主观性，迄今严重缺乏这方面的信息。该项目开发了一种新的基于视觉的作物测量技术，该技术融合了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实现)和我们的新图像处理算法。这些工具将被用来详细识别和记录与商业相关的表型性状。这些数据可用于季节产量和质量的预测和管理，通过在较长时间范围内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配合，以确定最佳标记，以更有效地培育具有最佳商业(以及生物学)轨迹的新的优良品种。项目目标包括识别和优化最具商业有效性的性状，开发一个自动化的田间系统，以定期测量这些性状的状况和发展，以响应压力和管理活动，决策支持成果和启动英国新型商业品种战略发展计划所需的新知识。该联盟由企业领导，形式为英国最大的苹果生产和供应集团Worldwide Fruit，加入将将新平台技术商业化的技术开发商，并得到世界果树和苹果品种开发专家East Mling Research的支持，他们将绘制表型图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、商业化和利用这项技术的技能，并将在欧洲进行开发，并/或随着产量的增长将其授权给其他制造商。TSB的支持是推动这一创新跨越商业和学术界差距所需的催化剂，而该计划带来的曝光率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：提高生产质量(符合规格的百分比)。为了更好地满足超市的规模和一致性要求，节省高达4000万GB的浪费产品；通过最佳实践鉴定和转让，将英国的平均种植强度提高高达50%，再增加5000万GB的产能；使英国有能力在快速开发新品种方面具有战略领先地位，潜在地将引进时间缩短多达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