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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Water Management and Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #377338
Research Project: Advancing Water Management and Conservation in Irrigated Arid Lands

Location: Water Management and Conservation Research

Title: Use of an ultrasonic sensor for plant height estimation in irrigated cotton

Author
item Bronson, Kevin
item French, Andrew
item Conley, Matthew
item BARNES, E - Cotton, Inc

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2020
Publication Date: 3/2/2021
Citation: Bronson, K.F., French, A.N., Conley, M.M., Barnes, E.M. 2021. Use of an ultrasonic sensor for plant height estimation in irrigated cotton. Agronomy Journal. 113(2):2175-2183. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20552.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20552

Interpretive Summary: Plant height in field crops like cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) have long been of great interest to agronomists and plant breeders. Canopy height sensors can replace laborious point hand sampling and enable site-specific management. The study objectives were to compare manual plant height measurements with an ultrasonic distance sensor in subsurface drip-irrigated (SDI) cotton, and to assess the effects of N and water management. Two Honeywell 943 sensors were used to weekly estimate canopy height in an N and water management study in Maricopa, AZ, USA from 2016 to 2018. Hand measurements and ultrasonic canopy height had weak or no significant correlation at first square, and at first bloom and mid bloom R2 was > 0.86. Canopy height was strongly affected by N and water treatments, starting at first square. This rapid-response ultrasonic distance sensor is accurate and has great potential as a canopy height measuring instrument in cotton.

Technical Abstract: Plant height in field crops like cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) have long been of great interest to agronomists and plant breeders. Canopy height sensors can replace laborious point hand sampling and enable site-specific management. Study objectives were to compare manual plant height measurements with ultrasonic distance sensor measurements in subsurface drip-irrigated (SDI) cotton, and to assess the effects of nitrogen (N) and water management. Two Honeywell 943 sensors were used to weekly estimate canopy height in an N and water management study in Maricopa, AZ, USA from 2016 to 2018. Hand measurements of plant height-ultrasonic-sensed height correlation increased with growth stage with R2 of 0.92 to 0.99 at mid bloom. Root mean square errors (RMSE) ranged from 0.9 to 4.0 cm. Canopy height was strongly affected by N and water treatments, starting at first square. This rapid-response ultrasonic distance sensor is accurate and has great potential as a canopy height measuring instrument in cotton.