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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Cotton Production and Processing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #303399
Title: Evaluation of a cotton stripper yield monitor

Author
item Wanjura, John
item KELLEY, MARK - Texas Agrilife Extension
item TAYLOR, RANDY - Oklahoma State University
item PORTER, WESLEY - Oklahoma State University
item BARNES, ED - Cotton, Inc
item Pelletier, Mathew
item Holt, Gregory

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/6/2014
Publication Date: 1/7/2014
Citation: Wanjura, J.D., Kelley, M.S., Taylor, R.K., Porter, W.M., Barnes, E.M., Pelletier, M.G., Holt, G.A. 2014. Evaluation of a cotton stripper yield monitor. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 481-493.

Interpretive Summary: Managing crops with precision agriculture techniques requires the generation of yield maps to evaluate productivity across a field. Yield monitors have been used primarily on cotton picker harvesters since the mid-1990's with limited adoption on cotton stripper harvesters. A new commercial yield monitor was released for use on stripper harvesters in 2012 that uses microwave sensing technology to measure seed cotton flow. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of this new yield monitoring system. The yield measurement error of the new system was observed to be in the range reported for other previously released yield monitors and averaged 12% during our work in 2013. The observed errors were related most to seed size and the amount of foreign material in the seed cotton. When used to evaluate seed cotton yields for a replicated variety trial, the yield monitor did not report the same yields or statistical groupings by variety as did the reference scale system. Therefore, it is not recommended at this time that the yield monitor be used as the only yield measurement tool in on-farm research studies.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate the accuracy of a microwave sensor based yield monitor for measuring yield on a cotton stripper harvester and determine if the yield monitor can discriminate differences in yield to the same level as a reference scale system. A new yield monitor was installed on a four-row John Deere 7460 cotton stripper in 2013 and used to harvest cotton at four locations in the Lubbock, TX area. Yield monitor error varied with location and cultivar but averaged 12.2% on an absolute basis across all locations. Errors were related most to seed size and foreign matter content parameters. Consequently, when used to evaluate seed cotton yields for a replicated variety trial, the yield monitor did not report the same yields or statistical groupings by variety as did the reference scale system. Therefore, it is not recommended at this time that the yield monitor be used as the only yield measurement tool in on-farm research studies.