Precision Farming Technologies based on Microprocessor and Decision Support Systems for Enhancing Input Application Efficiency in Production Agriculture

A sub-project under Component-4 of the National Agricultural Innovation Project

(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Introduction

The objectives of the project are targeted to create knowledge base information with regard to efficient farming practices while keeping in view the cost of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, machinery, etc. under Indian conditions. The project mainly aims at development of microprocessor based precision equipment required for site-specific precise application of inputs such as seed, fertilizer, herbicides and water.

In view of the growing population and shrinking of arable land and fresh water resources, it is imminent to develop decision support systems for crop input requirement and their scheduling. Investigations for such information are yet to be taken up in a systematic manner with a view to advice a farmer regarding best utilization of his resources such as seeds, fertilizer, chemicals, water and machinery in different agro-climatic conditions. Site-specific management practices, including use of multi-spectral and hyper-spectral remote sensing, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for variability assessment, management of variability with precision agriculture technologies, applicable on larger areas, might help in increasing the productivity of Indian agriculture. Use of close range sensors and combines fitted with yield monitors for identifying site-specific management zones to investigate yield variability attributes and subsequent corrective cultural practices leads to minimizing yield variability. This technique helps in reducing demand of time and manpower for delineating such management zones through grid sampling methods using remote sensing techniques with indirect yield attribute. There is a need to evaluate both the techniques under Indian conditions for selected cropping patterns by the consortium partners.

Resource management problems in important cropping systems like rice-wheat, soybean-wheat etc. are complex and vary greatly among farms and in various transects of agro-eco-regional level. Soil and water are of paramount importance as an important resource base. The sustainability of these resources has recently been considered as serious issues in various production systems. Spatial and temporal variability of these resources greatly influence crop yield even within supposedly uniform management units. Thus, there is a need to involve innovative technologies to address these variability at management level units under given set of agro-ecological conditions. Likewise site-specific application of critical inputs like seeds, fertilizers and herbicides can also be done on the basis of research information already generated and using crop simulation models and adopting appropriate validations.

Existing seeders are not capable of efficient metering and placement of seeds for maximum germination, emergence and subsequent optimum plant population. Seed distribution and application rate once fixed are not uniform and consistent throughout the field because of skidding of ground drive wheel and inefficient seed metering mechanisms. The seed rate variability has been reported to the tune of 10-20% that requires high seed rate for achieving the desired plant population by subsequent thinning operation at densely populated locations. The present practice of over seeding and subsequent thinning leads to higher cost of production. New approach based on ground speed sensing and using electronic controls and actuators for driving the metering shaft would help in developing fixed rate precision seed-cum-fertilizer applicator.

The increasing worldwide shortages of water and costs of irrigation are leading to an emphasis on developing methods of irrigation that minimize water use (maximize the water use efficiency). The advent of precision irrigation methods such as trickle irrigation has played a major role in reducing the water required in agricultural and horticultural crops, but has highlighted the need for new methods of accurate irrigation scheduling and control. A computer-based control system consists of a combination of hardware and software that acts as a supervisor with the purpose of managing irrigation and other related practices such as fertigation and maintenance. Real-time soil moisture based irrigation scheduling is a new approach, where the irrigation scheduling system determines the required input for the systems control algorithms. This results in 15-20% saving of water as indicated in studies conducted in Australia and USA. The DSSs are capable to simulate alternative irrigation schedules relative to different levels of allowed crop water stress as well as to various constraints in water and nutrients availability. Presently, such approach of automated controlled irrigation has not been adapted in the country. Soil moisture sensor based automated sprinkler irrigation system is proposed to be developed using this new approach.

Precision management of agricultural inputs such as herbicides for weed control is crucial to ensure profitable cultivation of crops and long-term sustainability of the land. The timeliness of weed management is also vital as for most crops, the crop yields are most influenced by weed status during the first two to three weeks after emergence. In addition, the timing of weed and crop emergence is very important as early-season competition has more impact than late-season pressures. In India, till date the differences in the spectral reflectance pattern of crops and weeds have not been exploited for the identification/detection of weeds in standing crops. The project therefore, intends to develop a microprocessor based herbicide applicator, which will apply the herbicide wherever weed incidence is observed above a threshold level instead of its blanket application, which is the present practice.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SUB-PROJECT

1. Development of sensor-based systems for assessing spatial and temporal variability of soil, moisture, crop and weed parameters and creating databases by adapting available components.

2. Development/adaptation of precision applicators for seed, fertilizers, herbicides and water to address site-specific variability.

3. Integration of the variable rate input application technology with the available decision support systems (DSS) for higher use efficiency.

RESEARCHABLE ISSUES

1. Low precision in fixed rate seed and fertilizer applicators

2. Lack of scientific database for development of DSS for real-time soil moisture based automated sprinkler irrigation system

3. Lack of reflectance based technique of weed detection in standing crop using close range sensor, leading to development of on-the-go herbicide applicator

4. Lack of database of spatial and temporal variability of soil nutrient status, soil moisture, and crop performance for selected major cropping systems

5. Lack of decision support and control systems for crop/soil/site-specific micro level application under Indian conditions

6. Lack of infrastructure and human resource to undertake research in the field of precision farming

7. Lack of decision support and control systems to address site-specific variability in crop/soil under Indian conditions

Expected Output/Deliverables

1. Precision sowing and fertilizer application device with precision control of seed and fertilizer distribution and placement using ground speed sensing

2. Database of spectral signatures and variability in soil moisture and its effect on soil, crop attributes

3. Development of signatures for weed identification and microprocessor based herbicide application system for site-specific weed management.

4. Sensor based soil moisture and crop parameters assessment system

5. Precise water application in field crops based on actual water requirement

6. DSS for   soil and crop parameters based input application in rice-wheat and soybean-wheat cropping system

Consortium Advisory Committee

Sl NO.	Contact Persons and Institutions	Designation in CAC
1.	Dr. A. K. Bhattacharya Former Project Director, Water Technology Centre, IARI, New Delhi	Chairman
2.	Dr. B. D. Gupta Department of Physics, IIT, Delhi-110016,	Member
3.	Dr. Dr. S. N. Swain Former Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, OUAT, Bhubaneswar	Member
4.	Dr. A. Bandyopadhyay, National Coordinator NAIP, New Delhi	Ex-Officio Member
5.	Dr. Pitam Chandra, Director, CIAE, Bhopal	Ex-Officio Member
6.	Er. P. S. Tiwari, Consortium PI and Scientist-SG, CIAE, Bhopal	Ex-Officio Member

Consortium Partners

Partner Institutions	Principal Investigator/Co-principal Investigator
Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabi Bagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal – 462 038.	Er. Prem Shanker Tiwari Scientist (SG) Agricultural Mechanization Division, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Nabibagh, Berasia Road,  Bhopal-462038, M. P. Tel: 0755-2521090 Cell : 09173450064 Fax: 0755-2734016 e-mail: pst@ciae.res.in Website: http://www.ciae.nic.in
Department of Agriculture and Food Engg.. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur – 721 302 (W.B.)	Dr. V. K. Tewari, Professor ( FMP) Dept. of Agric. & Food Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Khargpur-721 302 (W.B.) Tel: (03222)-283152 (off.)         (03222)-283153 (Res.) Fax: (03222)-282244 & 255303 Cell: 09434014171 E-mail: vktfeb@iitkgp.ac.in, prof.vktewari@gmil.com
NRC for Weed Science, Maharajpur, Jabalpur – 482 004 (MP)	Dr. M. B. B. Prasad Babu, Senior Scientist NRC for Weed Science Maharajpur, Jabalpur – 482 004, M.P. Phone: (0761) 2353101 Fax: (0761) 2353129 Cell: 09425410753 E-mail: mbbprasadbabu@gmail.com
Project Directorate for Cropping Systems Research (ICAR) Modipuram-250110, Merrut -  (UP)	Dr. S. S. Pal, Principal Scientist Project Directorate for Cropping Systems Research Modipuram-250110, Merrut -  (UP) Tel: (0121)-  2950314 (Off.)  Fax: : (0121)-  2577548            E-mail: director@pdcsr.ernet.in Web site: www.pdcsr.ernet.in

About CIAE

The Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) is dedicated to modernize the Indian agriculture through engineering interventions. The institute was established on February 15, 1976 at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, to make Indian agriculture profitable, sustainable and a globally competitive enterprise through mechanization of various farm operations, value addition in agro produce and development of renewable energy technologies/gadgets and conventional energy management.

The activities of the institute are accomplished through five divisions, agricultural mechanization, agro processing, agricultural energy and power, irrigation and drainage and transfer of technology, four centers namely SPU, NRC on women, IEP Coimbatore and KVK and four coordination cells and one cooperation centre of AICRPs and administrative and financial wings.  Theses divisions, AICRPs and Centres carry out research and development activities. Research workshop provides the facilities for the fabrication of agricultural machinery, ARIS and CAD cells for computer applications, drafting and modeling, Instrumentation cell for instrumentation support to various research projects. Regular interaction with different national and international institutes through collaborative research programmes, mutual visits and education programmes enhance the quality of research output. The institute is a regular member of Asian and Pacific Centre for Agricultural Engineering and Machinery (APDAEM), a functionary under UN-ESCAP.

The institute has developed/adopted different implements/equipment and several technologies/processes in the area of crop production, irrigation, post-production processing and renewable energy sources for enhancing production, productivity and employment. For popularization and commercialization of CIAE technologies about 4000 units of 50 different prototypes were fabricated and supplied for multi location trials.

The vision of the institute is to make Indian agriculture profitable, sustainable and globally competitive enterprise through mechanization of various farm operations, value addition in agro produce and development of renewable energy technologies and conventional energy management. The mission of the institute is to realize the vision by increasing farm mechanization, value addition and use of renewable energy sources in agriculture from present levels of 20%, 10% and 5% to 60%, 30% and 20% respectively.

For details please contact

Dr. Pitam Chandra

Director

Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering

Nabi Bagh, Berasia Road, Bhopal – 462038.

(: 0755-2737191, 3 :0755-2734016

http://www.ciae.nic.in