Advancing Plant Science with UAVs: Precision in Agricultural Sensing, Targeted Protection, and Phenotyping

Global agriculture is at a critical juncture, tasked with the immense challenge of feeding a burgeoning world population sustainably amidst escalating climate change impacts and diminishing natural resources. Traditional agricultural practices often fall short in addressing these complexities with the necessary precision and efficiency. In this context, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have emerged as a transformative technology, providing novel capabilities to observe, analyze, and interact with agricultural landscapes at high spatial and temporal resolutions. Their flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and non-invasive nature are fundamentally reshaping how we approach crop management and plant science research.

This Research Topic, "Advancing Plant Science with UAVs: Precision in Agricultural Sensing, Targeted Protection, and Phenotyping," is devoted to three pivotal areas where UAVs are making significant inroads. Firstly, in agricultural remote sensing, UAVs provide critical data for monitoring crop status, detecting early signs of biotic and abiotic stress, optimizing irrigation and fertilization, and predicting yield. Secondly, in targeted plant protection, UAVs enable the precise application of phytosanitary products, minimizing chemical usage, reducing environmental impact, and enhancing the efficacy of pest and disease management strategies. Thirdly, in high-throughput phenotyping, UAV platforms are accelerating crop improvement programs by facilitating rapid, non-destructive assessment of key agronomic and physiological traits across large numbers of plants in field conditions.

The aim of this Research Topic is to compile cutting-edge research that showcases innovative methodologies, novel applications, and insightful discoveries stemming from the use of UAVs in these domains. By highlighting these advancements, we seek to underscore the profound impact of UAV technology on advancing fundamental plant science and its translation into more productive, resilient, and sustainable agricultural systems. We invite contributions that integrate technological innovation with foundational plant science, illustrating how UAVs can enable greater precision, foster sustainable agricultural practices, and deepen our understanding of plant biology.

Specific themes include, but are not limited to:

• UAV-based Agricultural Remote Sensing: Advancing Insights into Plant and Crop Systems

• UAV-enabled Targeted Plant Protection: Enabling Precise and Sustainable Crop Management

• UAV-based High-Throughput Phenotyping (HTP): Accelerating Crop Improvement and Genetic Discovery

• Novel Sensor Development and Integration for UAV Platforms: Tailoring Technology to Address Specific Plant Science Inquiries

• Advanced Data Fusion Techniques: Integrating Multi-Sensor UAV Data and Complementary Information Sources

• Development of Open-Source Tools, Platforms, and Standardized Protocols for Robust UAV Data Acquisition and Analysis in Plant Science

Keywords: Remote Sensing, UAV, Spectral, Sensors, Yield Prediction, Crop monitoring, Digital Twin

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.