Delineation and implementation of soil management zones for variable-rate fertilization in sugarcane fields

• Grant number: 23/04638-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date until: August 01, 2023
• End date until: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering
• Principal Investigator: José Paulo Molin
• Grantee: Ricardo Canal Filho
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The high cost of collecting and analyzing soil samples represents a bottleneck for the sugarcane production, preventing the identification of soil spatio-temporal variability, causing inefficiency in the application of inputs and a decline in sustainability of the production chain, area of interest of Precision Agriculture (PA). With the recent adoption of yield monitoring technologies in the sugarcane production, this inefficient approach can be replaced by the adoption of Management Zones (MZs) for soil fertility and sugarcane fertilization, aiming a more economically and environmentally sustainable production. However, there is an absence of clearly defined strategies for designing and implementing MZs for sugarcane. This work has the objective of investigate and develop approaches for delineation of MZs for variable-rate fertilization of sugarcane, using yield maps as primary data. Developed in three steps, this work will use machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to model crop yield, identifying key factors of variability. Then, statistical techniques developed for PA applications will be tested and compared with a novel approach for designing MZs that will be proposed. The use of high-resolution yield and canopy sensing maps will be proposed for the reinterpretation of MZs as a temporally static model in decision making. To evaluate the scenarios tested, economic cost-benefit analyzes will be carried out, as well as nutrient and energy balance of the suggested treatments. It is expected, in the end, to obtain a methodology for delineation of soil MZs for variable-rate fertilization for sugarcane, indicating strategies for implementing the technique, until now not adopted by the producers. (AU)