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| Irrigate plants only when they are thirsty | |
Research scientists at the ARS (agricultural research agency for the USDA (United States Agricultural Development) agency, are evaluating a way to irrigate crops automatically by constantly measuring the temperatures of the plant surfaces. It appears that each crop has a particular "time-temperature threshold". An experimental system automatically provides the plants with a cooling irrigation only when the recorded temperature rises above the optimum temperature for the growth of the crop in question for a certain (threshold) period of time. Using this principle, scientist Steven R. Evett (ARS laboratory in Bushland, Texas) achieved higher yields in maize and soya beans and greater water efficiency with a temperature guided drip-irrigation system as compared a similar system triggered by soil moisture. Evett and his colleague R.T.Peters are currently testing a circular system where water is fed into the system through a central pivot that rotates like the hour hand of the clock tracing a large circle every 24 to 72 hours as it sprinkles water. In the experiment, the ‘hour hand’ is 120m long but can be made a great deal longer (many hundreds of meters). The pivoting pipe has infrared thermometers places at regular intervals to read crop temperatures. Stationary infrared thermometers in the field double-check the readings. The readings are transferred wirelessly to a computer which sends instructions to the central pivot. Eventually the system will go further than just turning the water on and off automatically and will include precise control over the quantity of water provided in a field where there are two to three different crops under cultivation at the same time and three different soil types in the same field www.ars.usda.gov |
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