Project title: National Horizon Europe Awards – Institutions (PNIV): Project 88/PHE – FRUITDIV
Project acronym: 88/PHE – FRUITDIV
Project code: PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2024-0223
Project Duration: 2025 – 2026
Budget: 20000 euro
Funding: UEFISCDI
Summary
Project 88/PHE is funded under PN IV (National Horizon Europe Awards – Institutions) for the participation of the IBRC team as a Work Package Co-Leader in the European research project entitled “Exploiting the Untapped potential of Fruit tree Wild DIVersity for Sustainable Agriculture (FRUITDIV),” which is funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe Program.
The project’s objectives are:
The 88/PHE project aims to utilize High-Throughput Digital Phenotyping (HTDP) techniques to enhance the research capacity of the Institute of Biological Research Cluj (IBRC) in the study and management of plant bioresources, with a particular focus on the eco-physiological characteristics of fruit trees, both in orchards and in natural environments. Activities will include upgrading the existing equipment as well as implementing new protocols for collecting and analyzing spectral data.
1) Improving IBRC’s research capacity to provide advanced high-throughput spectral digital phenotyping services focused on the useful eco-physiological traits of plants;
2) Increasing visibility and expanding international involvement through the dissemination of results regarding high-throughput phenotyping techniques available at IBRC.
Phase I – 2025
The equipment of ICB has been upgraded by acquiring a DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral (M3M) drone with an integrated RTK module for accurate geo-positioning, as well as the associated image analysis software: Pix4D Mapper. Pilot experiments are conducted to test HTDP methods for extracting eco-physiological traits of fruit trees using drones and multi-spectral sensors for accurately calculating the Spectral Vegetation Indices.
Fig 1. The DJI Mavic 3 Multispectral (M3M) system for high-efficiency spectral data collection
Fig. 2. Examples from calibration flights for calculating the volume of wild pear trees (Pyrus pyraster)
Project Team
- Anamaria Roman – project director
- Tudor Ursu – team member
- Zsombor Miholcsa – PhD Student, team member