PHENO_MaizE Project Progress Report Approved!

We are pleased to share that the first Project progress report for PHENO_MaizE, covering the initial six months, has been officially approved by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia!

What have we accomplished so far?

Training & Certification: Four team members have obtained licenses for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operation and completed a comprehensive five-day training on UAV management, crop mapping, and photogrammetry software. Two team members participated in the “Summer School on Image Analysis for Plant Phenotyping” at WUR University in Wageningen, Netherlands.

Field Imaging: We have conducted trial field imaging of maize plots at two MRIZP experimental locations across various growth stages. These plots will continue to be imaged until harvest to establish optimal protocols for crop mapping in each growth stage. Currently, we are fine-tuning photogrammetry software settings to produce accurate field orthomosaics from these images.

Seed Production: Over 200 self-pollinating lines and their crosses with one tester inbred line were sown to ensure a sufficient seed quantity for our two-year field experiments in 2025 and 2026. This nursery has just completed flowering, and we anticipate a good yield.

Equipment Acquisition: We have acquired several essential pieces of equipment, including a drone with RGB and MS sensors, photogrammetry software, multiple laptops and desktop computers, and a high-performance computer with a powerful GPU for intensive photogrammetry, machine learning, and data analysis tasks.

Licenses & Approvals: We have successfully obtained all necessary licenses and approvals from relevant institutions for drone operations and imaging in restricted areas of the Republic of Serbia—a significant achievement given the complexity involved.

Every project has its challenges, but we have delivered results according to our project plan. We extend our gratitude to all our colleagues at MRIZP who have contributed to this promising start.