Quantifying Cereal Rye Pastures Biomass with Image Analysis

Summary with Implications By accurately assessing the amount of forage available, producers can estimate the pasture carrying capacity to make informed decisions on management. To provide producers with a feasible and efficient approach to estimate forage mass, this project evaluated performance of two image analysis tools, Crop Canopy Image Analyzer (CCIA) and Canopeo, in estimating forage mass for cereal rye. Forage mass measured by clipping the forage (areas with 5.625 ft2) was correlated with plant cover analyzed by the two tools using photos of the forage taken 37 in above the ground. Results obtained have supported the feasibility of quantifying cereal rye mass with both tools, which suggests a convenient and efficient way for producers to estimate pasture forage availability by simply taking a picture with their smartphones.