Evaluation of a Hydrological Design Applied to Rainfed Agriculture Using Vegetation Indexes

Núñez Fernández Gerardo Alonso¹, Ponce Rodríguez Ma. Del Carmen¹, Pulgarín Gámiz Miguel Ángel¹, García Montiel Emily¹, Oscar Reyes Cárdenas², and López Serrano Pablito Marcelo³

1. Faculty of Forest Sciences, Juarez University of the State of Durango, Mexico

2. Faculty of Engineering, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi, Mexico

3. Institute of Forestry and Wood Industry, Juarez University of the State of Durango, Mexico

Abstract: In Mexico, rainfed agriculture is affected by erratic precipitation, a consequence of current climate variation. The emergence of geospatial technologies allows the evaluation of agricultural crops under methods that increase production. The objective of this work was to evaluate the response of a bean crop in a rainfed plot under a hydrological design with the key line method using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A plot was established with two cultivation methods: Traditional (T) and with a hydrological design method with the key line method (K). Subsequently, the crop was planted and evaluated through vegetation indexes (NDVI and GNDVI), derived from high resolution images of a UAV. An analysis of variance was performed in order to test the hypothesis test that the mean of the treatments is equal. According to the evaluation of NDVI and GNDVI indexes in both methods (T and K), there are significant differences (p < 0.0001) between T and K, so the hypothesis that the means are equal is rejected. The use of NDVI proved to be a useful tool in the evaluation of rainfed crops.

Key words: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Vegetation indexes, key line