"Sensors soil macronutrients "On-the-Go" for purposes of Precision Agriculture in sugar cane "

• Grant number: 10/10001-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2010
• End date: September 30, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Agricultural Machinery and Implements
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Sergio Graziano Magalhães
• Grantee: Guilherme Martineli Sanches
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Agrícola (FEAGRI). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Precision Agriculture is a term used to define a set of technologies that promote improved management of agricultural production through the recognition of that the potential productivity of agricultural land may vary considerably even in very small distances. The rising prices of the fertilizers and the concern for the environment have brought the issues of precision agriculture and located management areas to the current context of technological development in agriculture. As a result, it is necessary to use methods that aim lower environment impacts and offer the highest yields, as the application of inputs at varied rates and in specific areas, according to the actual need. Chemical analysis of the soil, prescribes a dose of fertilizer at a varied effective rate, which requires an intensive and complex field and laboratory work, what makes the activity both physically and economically impractical. The adopted solution has been reducing the number of soil samples, ignoring the local spatial variability concentration of macro and micronutrients, making the distribution of fertilizer leads to an under-or over-fertilization. Within this context, it is observed in the literature that sensors for determining some chemical properties of the soil are under research and development by the system called "on-the-go." These devices are based on different principles and provide information that varies either in precision as in accuracy. The present study focus on the various types of existing sensors and their methods to detect nutrients in the soil, evaluating their potential use, the convenience and the cost of technology, proposing at the end one or more solutions to be developed by the research group of Precision Agriculture of FEAGRI.