Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery for Agronomic and Quality Variability Assessment of Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.)

The objective of this work is to evaluate the agronomic, phenological, nutritional quality and organoleptic characteristics of pistachios (Pistacia vera L.) based on the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) calculated in the phenological stage of nut filling from Sentinel satellite imagery. Based on this index, three pistachio tree orchards were studied and classified into two levels of vigour: high and low. The results obtained have discriminated the production per tree, which is strongly related to yield. Regarding the nutritional quality parameters, significant differences were not observed between vigour levels, although the most vigorous trees have shown nuts with a higher percentage of fibre and protein. In terms of phenology, there have not been differences between trees of different vigour, only a slight advance of some phenological stages has been observed in several high-vigour trees. Triangular tests have been made successfully to discriminate the origin of the dry nut and the vigour of the trees. In conclusion, for a given nut quality within a given orchard, the NDVI is a good index to classify different areas according to productive capacity and can be useful to apply variable management, irrigation and fertilization according to vigour.