LandWISE 2015 Presenter Peter Schaare
Peter Schaare, Bio-engineering, Plant & Food Research.
Peter specialises in designing measuring instruments for biological applications including non-destructive measurement technologies, optical instrumentation, spectroscopy, ultrasonics and automation. He is currently investigating laser technologies to assess the mineral nutrient status of plant material in the field.
The key to precise management of crops is the provision of timely and spatially detailed information on the factors determining yield and quality. Instrumentation already exists to evaluate some of these factors; for example, yield monitors, nitrogen level sensors and electromagnetic soil mapping are in common use. However, in-field, real-time measurement of other factors is proving challenging. Peter’s presentation covers some types of instrumentation that may provide the key to more detailed information on the factors determining plant production.
Examples include thermal imaging of the surface temperature of leaves in the canopy to identify stress from water shortage or disease, LiDAR to estimate traits such as biomass, leaf area and height and visible-near infrared spectroscopy (VIS-NIR) which has been shown to be able to estimate soil pH via a tractor-mounted soil penetrator.
Plants emit particular volatiles when under attack by pests such as herbivores or fungi, or as a normal component of their metabolism and these volatiles can be used to diagnose the plant’s status. Which technology is a superbly sensitive technique?
Instruments and measurement are the key to precise management of horticultural and arable crop production systems and the farmer of 2030 will routinely use measurement technologies to guide his operations to an even greater extent than is done today.
