Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Evaluating management zone maps for variable rate fungicide application and selective harvest

Show simple item record

dc.creator Whetton, Rebecca L.
dc.creator Waine, Toby W.
dc.creator Mouazen, Abdul M.
dc.date 2018-08-30T15:32:21Z
dc.date 2018-08-30T15:32:21Z
dc.date 2018-08-23
dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-25T16:38:04Z
dc.date.available 2022-05-25T16:38:04Z
dc.identifier Rebecca L. Whetton, Toby W. Waine and Abdul M. Mouazen.Evaluating management zone maps for variable rate fungicide application and selective harvest. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Volume 153, Issue October, 2018, pp. 202-212
dc.identifier 0168-1699
dc.identifier https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2018.08.004
dc.identifier http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/13435
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/182292
dc.description Currently the majority of crop protection approaches are based on homogeneous rate fungicide application (HRFA) over the entire field area. With the increasing pressures on fungicide applications, associated with increased environmental impact and cost, an alternative approach based on variable rate fungicide application (VRFA) and selective harvest (SH) is needed. This study was undertaken to evaluate the economic viability of adopting VRSA and SH in winter wheat and the environmental benefit in terms of chemical reduction is also discussed. High resolution data of crop canopy properties, yellow rust, fusarium head blight (FHB), soil properties and yield were subjected to k-means cluster analysis to develop management zone (MZ) maps for one field in Bedfordshire, UK. Virtual cost-benefit analysis for VRFA was performed on three fungicide application timings, namely, T1 and T2 focused on yellow rust, and T3 focused on FHB. Cost-benefit analysis was also applied to SH, which assumed different selling prices between healthy and grain downgraded due to mycotoxin infection. Results showed that in this study VRFA allowed for fungicide reductions of 22.24% at T1 and T2 and 25.93% at T3 when compared to HRFA. SH reduced the risk of market rejection due to low quality and high mycotoxin content. Gross profit of combining SH and VRFA was £83.35 per hectare per year, divided into SH £48.04 ha−1, and VRFA £8.8 ha−1 for T1 and T2 and £17.7 ha−1 for T3. Total profit when considering soil and crop scanning costs would be £66.85 ha−1 per year, which is roughly equivalent to €80 or $90 ha−1 per year. This study was restricted to a single field but demonstrates the potential of fungicide reductions and economic viability of this MZ concept.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Elsevier
dc.rights Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dc.rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subject Cereal crop disease
dc.subject Management zones
dc.subject Cost-benefit analysis
dc.subject Selective harvest
dc.subject Variable rate fungicide application
dc.title Evaluating management zone maps for variable rate fungicide application and selective harvest
dc.type Article


Files in this item

Files Size Format View
Evaluating_management_zone_maps-2018.pdf 1.383Mb application/pdf View/Open

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search DSpace


Advanced Search

Browse