Author
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Sadler, Edward |
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Camp Jr, Carl |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 12/6/2000 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Recently, producers, industry, and service providers have demonstrated interest in Precision Agriculture as a best management practice for several managed inputs, including fertilizer, pesticides, and seeding. In the early 1990's, research at four locations developed equipment and techniques for managing irrigation inputs using variable-rate technology. Three of these, Ft. Collins CO, Aberdeen ID, and Prosser WA, are in the arid West. The fourth, at Florence SC, is the only site addressing issues in the humid region, or on the sandy Coastal Plain. All four built the site-specific irrigation machines by modifying commercial equipment; one using a linear move machine and the others, center pivots. The individual sites varied in some respects, but generally strove for the primary objective of varying water application depth both in the direction of travel and along the machine. This presentation will cover the general approaches used in the four locations and describe where different approaches have relative advantages and disadvantages. Common components of all machines are a variable-rate sprinkler system, a variable-rate water supply, a control system, a position system, and a nutrient injection system. Each of these components differs in some respects from the equivalent device on a commercial irrigation system. Examples of several implementations of these components will be shown. Examples of the research that has been done with the machines will be presented, with particular emphasis on results applicable to the soils, crops, and climate of the humid Southeast. |
