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A strategy to instigate SSCM in Australian potato production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2017

B. M. Whelan  and
F. Mulcahy
B. M. Whelan*
Affiliation:
Precision Agriculture Laboratory, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, University of Sydney, NSW Australia
F. Mulcahy
Affiliation:
Simplot Australia Pty Ltd, Wesley Vale, Tasmania, Australia
*
†E-mail: brett.whelan@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

To explore the potential for site-specific crop management in Australian potato production, soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) and high resolution elevation data were used to first define the variation in soil and landscape resources in two regions in Tasmania. Variation in crop production was estimated using in-season aerial multispectral VIS-NIR reflectance measurements and then measured using a first generation on-harvester yield monitoring system. During the season, soil and crop physical, chemical and pathogen properties were measured to groundtruth the sensor-derived data. Substantial within-field and between field variation was found in soil physical, chemical and pathogen properties, elevation and crop yield. The average potato yield for the study fields was 64 t/ha, with over three-fold within-field variation recorded. The in-season aerial crop reflectance significantly correlated with soil physical variability and pathogen load when gathered early in the season and to variation in plant physical and chemical properties, as well as important soil nutrient properties and crop yield when gathered from week 14 onwards. A set of general rules for instigating Site-specific crop management (SSCM) in potato production has been devised based initially on nutrient and pathogen management with irrigation management as an option.

Keywords

soil conductivitypotato yieldspatial variabilitycrop reflectanceNDVI
Type
PA in practice
Information
Advances in Animal Biosciences , Volume 8 , Special Issue 2: Papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA 2017), John McIntyre Centre, Edinburgh, UK, July 16–20 2017 , July 2017 , pp. 743 - 748
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

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