Progress of precision agriculture in sugar cane in Mauritius
| MSI03P3941 | |
| Jhoty, I. Ramasamy, S. Autrey, L. J. C. | |
| Progress of precision agriculture in sugar cane in Mauritius | |
| ISSCT Agronomy workshop: Opportunities in sugar cane agronomy to confront the new realities emerging in the 21st century, 21-25 July 2003, MSIRI, Mauritius: Program and Abstracts | |
| Book chapter | |
| 2003 | |
| p. 35 | |
| Reduit: ISSCT and Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute | |
| En | |
| En | |
| With a view to investigating its potential in the identification of spatial yield and soil variabilities under Mauritian conditions, a project on precision agriculture in sugar cane was initiated two years ago. A yield monitor system, including GPS, has been mounted in a cane harvester to conduct in-field spatial yield variability mapping, whereas soil conductivity surveys have been manually carried out with the EM38 soil electromagnetic conductivity meter. Visual interpretation of aerial photographs and satellite images has also been applied to detect spatial variability within the field. The site of investigation is a sub-humid coastal area in western Mauritius dominated by two soil groups and irrigated agriculture. Within field yield variability was significant and tended to occur as banded and non-banded patterns in irrigated as well as non-irrigated fields. Yield mapping of one field (field 6201) in 2001 and 2002, indicated that yield variability was present in nearly the same range and geographical locations in spite of differences in average yield obtained in 2001 (62.8 t/ha) and 2002 (56.8 t/ha). Yield variability in that field was not related to variability in topography or soil electromagnetic conductivity. In other fields, a relationship between yield variability and soil conductivity was found to exist in certain areas only. Zones of cane canopy density, as visually interpreted from aerial photographs and satellite imagery for field 6201, were found to relate to zones of variable yield. Soil sampling is being carried out for analyses to correlate soil properties to yield variability and soil conductivity in specific areas. The two-year yield monitoring of field 6201 indicates that there is opportunity for in-field yield variability management on an annual basis, for example, by making adjustments in the applications of fertilizers and irrigation. | |
| Soil conductivity spatial variability variability management yield monitoring sugarcane | |
| Mauritius | |
| Sugarcane: Cultural operations | |
| Precision agriculture | |
| 2003-07-31 | |
| En | |
| MSIRI | |
| LIB | |
| LRD |