A groundbreaking study from the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment and the Volcani Institute reveals how drones equipped with advanced thermal and hyperspectral cameras are revolutionising the search for climate-smart wheat.
By flying these drones over hundreds of wheat varieties, researchers can rapidly and accurately measure key plant traits—such as stomatal conductance (how efficiently plants regulate water through their leaves), leafiness, and chlorophyll content—without disturbing the crops.
The team, led by PhD candidate Roy Sadeh under the supervision of Dr Ittai Herrmann and Professor Zvi Peleg at the Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, conducted their experiments at the Pheno-IL research and education facility’s rain-out shelter. Using detailed drone imagery, they tracked how different wheat genotypes responded to both optimal and drought conditions across two growing seasons.
By applying machine learning models to the drone-collected data, the researchers identified 16 genetic markers linked to superior performance under both normal and dry conditions. These findings were further validated in a follow-up field trial, demonstrating the reliability of this innovative approach.
“Until now, measuring stomatal conductance—the plant’s ability to regulate water—was slow and required manual tools,” explained Roy Sadeh, first author of the study, published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. “This drone-based method offers a fast and powerful way to identify drought-tolerant plants, without even touching them.”
The study involved 300 diverse wheat genotypes and achieved a 28% improvement in water-use estimation accuracy using support vector machine models. Remarkably, this is the first time that UAV-based measurements of stomatal conductance have been used to map genetic markers in wheat.
As climate change continues to threaten global food security, this innovative integration of drone technology and genetic analysis offers a practical path forward for plant breeders. By accelerating the development of wheat varieties that can withstand heat, drought, and other climate stresses, this research helps safeguard food supplies for future generations.
This research was supported by the Israeli Council for Higher Education (Project: Future Crops for Carbon Farming), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The research paper titled “UAV-borne hyperspectral and thermal imagery integration empowers genetic dissection of wheat stomatal conductance” is now available in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture and can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2025.110411.
Researchers:
Roy Sadeh, Victor Alchanatis, Roi Ben-David, Zvi Peleg, Ittai Herrmann
Institutions:
1) Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment , The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2) Agricultural Research Organization – Volcani Institute
Photo credit: Roy Sadeh, Zvi Peleg, Ittai Herrmann