Analysis of Soil and Crop Properties for Precision Agriculture for Winter Wheat

• Published in: Biosystems engineering Vol. 85; no. 2; pp. 141 - 152
• Main Authors: Vrindts, E., Reyniers, M., Darius, P., De baerdemaeker, J., Gilot, M., Sadaoui, Y., Frankinet, M., Hanquet, B., Destain, M.-F.
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-06-2003; Elsevier; Academic Press
• Subjects: Agriculture & agronomie; Agriculture & agronomy; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; crop; Cropping systems. Cultivation. Soil tillage; Earth sciences & physical geography; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Generalities. Cropping systems and patterns; Life sciences; nitrogen; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; precision agriculture; reflectance; Sciences de la terre & géographie physique; Sciences du vivant; soil analysis; soil texture; soil variability; trade; winter wheat; Belgium; Europe; Macronutrient(mineral); Nitrogen fertilization; Monocotyledones; Cultivated soil; Property of soil; Nitrogen; Spatial variation; Cereal crop; Field experiment; Precision agriculture; Gramineae; Winter crops; Angiospermae; Spermatophyta; Cultivated plant; Measurement method; Chemical properties; Triticum aestivum; Reflectance
• ISSN: 1537-5110; 1537-5129; 1537-5129
• DOI: 10.1016/S1537-5110(03)00040-0

In a precision farming research project financed by the Belgian Ministry of Small Trade and Agriculture, the methods of precision agriculture are tested on grain fields with a view of implementation of precision agriculture methods in Belgian field agriculture. The project encompasses methods for automatic information gathering on soil and crop and analysis of this data for management of within-field variability. Automatic information capturing is combined with traditional data sources of soil sample analysis and crop observations. The measurements and part of the results on one particular field in Sauvenière are presented here. Five nitrogen management strategies were compared, but the resulting differences in nitrogen dose were small and did not lead to significantly different yield results. The yield results were correlated to topography-related variations in soil texture and chemical components and to crop reflectance measurements in May.