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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #83066
Title: SENSORS AND THE FUTURE OF SITE-SPECIFIC NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

Author
item HUMMEL, JOHN
item BIRRELL, STUART - UNIV OF ILLINOIS

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/14/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Precision agriculture utilizes maps of soil and plant parameters to identify subfield areas that can be treated as units to optimize productivity. Grid sampling has been combined with traditional soil nutrient analysis techniques to characterize the variability in soil nutrient levels with some success. Numerous studies have shown that the sampling intensity required to accurately map the variability in soil nutrient level is not economical in many instances in field crop production. In this paper, the development of real-time sensors for soil nutrients will be discussed. Progress on high-speed sample collection, and the use of spectral reflectance, ion-selective field effect transistors, and other technologies for in-field soil nutrient level assessment will be discussed.