Leveraging UAV spectral and thermal traits for the genetic improvement of resistance to Dothistroma needle blight in Pinus radiata D.Don

By utilising UAV-based hyperspectral and thermal imaging to capture single-tree phenotypes related to disease in a forestry trial and pairing the data to genomic evaluation, this study establishes that remote sensing data offers an efficient, scalable alternative to traditional phenotyping. Our approach constitutes a major step towards characterising specific physiological responses, facilitating the discovery of the genetic architecture of physiological traits, and significantly enhancing genetic improvement.