High-throughput method for improving rice AGB estimation based on UAV multi-source remote sensing image feature fusion and ensemble learning

Introduction The rapid and non-destructive estimation of rice aboveground biomass (AGB) is vital for accurate growth assessment and yield prediction. However, vegetation indices (VIs) often suffer from saturation due to high canopy coverage and vertical organs, limiting their accuracy across multiple growth stages. Therefore, this study utilizes UAV-acquired RGB and multi-spectral (MS) images during several critical rice stages to explore the potential of multi-source data fusion for accurately and cost-effectively estimating rice AGB.Methods High-frequency texture features were extracted from RGB images using discrete wavelet transform (DWT), while low-order color moments in RGB and Lab color spaces were calculated. VIs were derived from MS images. Feature selection combined statistical analysis and modeling techniques, with collinearity removed through the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF). The relationships between AGB and the selected features were then analyzed using multiple fitting functions. Both single-type and multi-type features were used to develop individual and ensemble machine learning (ML) models for rice AGB estimation.Results The findings indicate that: (i) Single-type features result in significant errors and low accuracy within the same sensor, but multi-feature fusion improves performance. (ii) Fusing RGB and MS image features enhances AGB estimation accuracy over single-sensor features. (iii) Ensemble ML models outperform individual models, providing higher accuracy and stability, with the best model achieving an R2 of 0.8564 and RMSE of 169.32 g/m2.Discussion This study demonstrates that multi-source UAV image feature fusion with ensemble learning effectively leverages complementary data strengths, offering an efficient solution for monitoring rice AGB across growth stages.