Potato cultivation requires specific management in agricultural inputs in order to achieve proper growth development and yield. Excess use of Nitrogen inputs can lead to excessive vegetative growth that causes delay in tuber formation, and increases sensitivity to diseases such as Phytophthora rot, while low phosphorus input can lead to poor root and tuber development, reducing yield. In order to address these issues, vegetation indices can be created by acquiring data from proximal and remote sensing sensors. Drones mounted with multispectral camera can provide images from different zones of the spectrum (green, red, red-edge, near infrared) which can be merged to generate vegetation indices, like NDVI and proximal sensors (Trimble Greenseeker) which can directly provide NDVI values directly at a specific area of the potato crop. Furthermore, thermal cameras can be used to identify water stress of the potato crop to optimize irrigation. By receiving information about the health of the potato crop from vegetation indices, management of potato nutrition can be optimized to accomplish proper growth development and yield.
Precision Agriculture for Potato Growth
Content Author: AUA