Parallel crop monitoring activities focused on individual plants within established plots and the crop at paddock scale.
Importantly, the project linked these pictures of crop development to better understand how variability can be assessed and potentially managed.
The schedule of measurements included:
| Stage | Date | Factor | Technology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preplant | July | Soil spatial variability | EM38 |
| Surface flows | OptiSurface | ||
| August | Soil pH | Manual sampling | |
| Soil Fertility | Manual sampling | ||
| Soil NIR | MicaSense | ||
| Seed viability | Lab test | ||
| Planting | August | Penetration resistance | Manual |
| Soil structure | Aggregate Stability | ||
| Soil porosity/infiltration | Manual sampling | ||
| Soil condition | VSA | ||
| Soil moisture | Decagon | ||
| Emergence* | August | Fresh mass | Individual plants |
| Dry matter | Individual plants | ||
| Population | Sample plots | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI GreenSeeker | ||
| Canopy status | GroundCover App | ||
| Three leaf | September | Leaf count | Individual plants |
| Leaf area | Individual plants | ||
| Fresh mass | Individual plants | ||
| Dry matter | Individual plants | ||
| Radiation interception | SunScan | ||
| Population | Sample plots | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI GreenSeeker | ||
| Canopy status | GroundCover App | ||
| Five leaf | October | Leaf count | Individual plants |
| Leaf area | Individual plants | ||
| Fresh mass | Individual plants | ||
| Dry matter | Individual plants | ||
| Radiation interception | SunScan | ||
| Population | Sample plots | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI MicaSense | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI Greenseeker | ||
| Canopy status | GroundCover App | ||
| Bulbing | October | Leaf count | Individual plants |
| Leaf area | Individual plants | ||
| Fresh mass | Individual plants | ||
| Dry matter | Individual plants | ||
| Radiation interception | SunScan | ||
| Bulbing date/size | Individual plants | ||
| Population | Sample plots | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI MicaSense | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI GreenSeeker | ||
| Canopy status | GroundCover App | ||
| NDVI | Satellite | ||
| Top Down | December | Leaf count | 15 plants |
| Leaf area | Individual plants | ||
| Fresh mass | Individual plants | ||
| Dry matter | Individual plants | ||
| Radiation interception | SunScan | ||
| Bulbing date/size | Individual plants | ||
| Population | Sample plots | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI MicaSense | ||
| Canopy status | GroundCover App | ||
| Lifting | January | Top down or not | Individual plants |
| Plant weight | Individual plants | ||
| Canopy status | NDVI GreenSeeker | ||
| Canopy status | GroundCover App | ||
| Harvest | January | Leaf mass | Individual bulbs |
| Bulb diameter | Individual bulbs | ||
| Bulb fresh mass | Individual bulbs | ||
| Skin number | 15 Individual bulbs | ||
| Skin density | 15 Individual bulbs | ||
| After Storage | TBC | Skin number | Individual bulbs |
| Skin density | Individual bulbs | ||
| Sprout length | Individual bulbs | ||
| Respiration | Individual bulbs | ||
| Dry matter % | Individual bulbs |
* Emergence measurements repeated at 30, 50 and 90%
Many thanks to AgriOptics for providing a GreenSeeker unit for the season and Altus for the imagery from the UAV Micasense.