Difficulties on Tree Volume Measurement from a Ground Laser Scanner

The optimization of most pesticide and fertilizer applications is based on overall grove conditions. To this end, a ground laser scanner can be used to estimate the volume of the trees and then extrapolate their foliage surface to control the application dose. In this work we summarize the difficulties involved in this volume measurement. Tests with pear trees demonstrated that volume estimated with a ground laser scanner is very sensitive to errors in the angle of orientation and in the estimated distance to the center of the trees.