Precision agriculture is a methodology to identify and exploit variability within an agricultural field. In India, a yield is measured during marketing of harvested crop and as a gross yield of the land owned by the farmer. The yield... more
Precision agriculture is a methodology to identify and exploit variability within an agricultural field. In India, a yield is measured during marketing of harvested crop and as a gross yield of the land owned by the farmer. The yield monitor mounted over grain combine harvester measures and records information such as grain flow, grain moisture, area covered and location. An automated yield monitoring system consisting of a yield sensor, global positioning system (GPS), field computer with custom software was mounted on a self propelled indigenous grain combine harvester for real-time crop yield mapping along with moisture data. By means of optical sensors (light emitter and detector), the height of the grain on the elevator paddles was measured and converted in the grain mass flow. Three rice fields were harvested to evaluate the performance of the yield monitor for grain yield and moisture mapping of harvested grains. The actual yield maps were generated by using Arc GIS software ...
Variable rate technology offers a sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective solution for fertilizer application. A study was conducted to design and develop a variable rate fertilizer applicator to detect real-time deficiency of N within... more
Variable rate technology offers a sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective solution for fertilizer application. A study was conducted to design and develop a variable rate fertilizer applicator to detect real-time deficiency of N within the field and apply it per requirement of the crop. The microcontroller system was designed to receive a signal from the N sensor and send a signal to the pulse-width-modulation valve to vary the rotational speed of the hydraulic motor resulting in variation in the rotation of the metering mechanism drive shaft based on the recommended amount of fertilizer. During the field study, three replications were conducted, each of which was divided into four plots. The response time between the N sensing and fertilizer discharging fell within the range of 3.49 to 4.90 s. Fertilizer applied using the developed variable rate applicator indicated that when the fertilizer rate is increased from N1 to N4 (kg ha−1), NDVI increased from 0.56 to 0.78 and drive shaft rotational speed decreased from 20 to 0 rpm in order to apply the fertilizer at a rate of 0.00 instead of 78.36 kg ha−1. Using the developed applicator demonstrates that this technology could reduce environmental impact, making farming more sustainable.