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Widescale testing of the Crop-meter for site-specific farming

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Abstract

A sensor for measuring crop biomass density has been designed and developed to meet the demands for practical use in site-specific farming. The mechanical sensor named ‘Crop-meter’ is based on the pendulum principle. The suitability and measuring stability of the Crop-meter has been confirmed under field conditions in different regions of Germany. Significant correlations were obtained between Crop-meter signals and soil electrical conductivity (R 2=0.16−0.66) and grain yield (R 2=0.42−0.57). To test the suitability of the Crop-meter for site-specific management, it was used to control variable application rates for nitrogen fertiliser, growth regulators and fungicides in real time. A small increase in yield (3.1%) as well as reduced application rates for agrochemicals (14.6% nitrogen fertilisers; 23.1% fungicides and growth regulators) were proved in large-scale trials.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Federal Ministry BMBF, Germany. Particular thanks for the work in preparing, implementing and evaluating the tests for Crop-meter goes to the staff Dipl-Ing. R. Adamek and Dr. U. Voelker.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz-Institute of Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim (ATB), Division Engineering for Crop Production, Max-Eyth-Allee 100, D-14469, Potsdam, Germany

    D. Ehlert & K.-H. Dammer

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  1. D. Ehlert
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  2. K.-H. Dammer
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Correspondence to D. Ehlert.

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Ehlert, D., Dammer, KH. Widescale testing of the Crop-meter for site-specific farming. Precision Agric 7, 101–115 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-006-9003-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-006-9003-z

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