Spy in the sky all set to give agronomy a boost
Spy in the sky all set to give agronomy a boost
By Charles Abel
POTATO growers could soon be using aerial imaging to aid crop management, judging by early results from a study conducted by Velcourt and the National Remote Sensing Centre.
Images taken from an aircraft flying 1670m above the crop have been used to create maps of crop vigour accurate to within 0.6sq m, with colour coded red spots highlighting potential problem areas.
"The advantage of this technology is that it is providing real-time information on the health and vigour of the crop," says Velcourt technical director, Keith Norman. That means the right decisions can be made for a range of inputs during the current growing season.
The technique could also prove useful for identifying PCN hot-spots. "Archiving this sort of information for the next time the field is in potatoes will be invaluable to help implement an appropriate nematode control strategy," says Mr Norman.
Last year images from the Syngenta-sponsored study were used to tailor crop desiccation. "Drought stress and rhizoctonia are frequently a problem where the crop has been severely affected and weakened by nematodes," says farm manager Tim Harper.
"Where we can see there is likely to be a problem, that part of the crop can be desiccated earlier. The effect of the nematodes means it will not yield as well, so we are not losing too much from killing it off. Furthermore, the rest of the field can be left to maximise the potential yield of premium baking potatoes."
There are also implications for the separate storage and marketing of each part of the crop, he adds. "Picking up these issues earlier, through the aerial images has a major advantage in the crops management."
Imaging also highlighted weaknesses with existing conventional soil sampling and nematode risk mapping. Although the field had been sampled on an intensive 10-samples/ha grid, which had identified the worst area, it had missed several other hot-spots and classified some parts of the field low-risk, Mr Norman notes. *