The next step for Precision Agriculture : SRA Grower Group Innovation Project final report

Abstract

Growers in the Homebush Innovative Growers Group are well aware of the within-paddock variability that occurs within paddocks. The adoption of electrical conductivity (EC) soil mapping technology verified the patterns of contrasting soil properties and satellite yield estimation maps produced by Mackay Sugar indicated considerable variability in sugarcane paddocks across the central cane growing region. The GGIP project titled “The Next Step for Precision Agriculture” provided an opportunity for the group to gain a better understanding of the interaction of variables that contribute to spatial variability within a paddock. Following the EC soil mapping of the study site, ground-truthing of EC soil mapping patterns indicated the presence of four distinct soil groups in a transect across the paddock. A comprehensive trial plan was developed incorporating the planting of replicated sugarcane plots in each of the four spatially defined soil groups to determine yield differentiation across the soil groups. The replicates for each soil group were split between conventional farming (CF) practices and a traffic free (TF) status to determine the affects of compaction on yield. To develop a better understanding of the agronomic variables that influence yield a number of measurements were undertaken in designated vegetation free zones established at the end of each TF plot across the soil groups, namely: Chemical and particle size analysis to a depth of one metre (topsoil, upper subsurface and lower subsurface); Bulk density, water infiltration and soil resistivity from the apex of the hill up and the inter-row zone; Nematode and Pachymetra monitoring in a crop and vegetation free environments to determine persistence and population dynamics over plant and ratoon phases