Principles of precision agriculture in on-farm spring wheat fertilization experiment

Abstract

Precision farming is an innovative conception of agricultural production. European farmers apply the principles of precision agriculture (PA) fragmentary; therefore, we need complex investigations of technological processes in conditions of PA. In 2013-2014, the demonstrational on-farm field experiment was carried out at Alfredas Bardauskas agricultural farm, Raseiniai reg., Lithuania. The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the impact of PA technological processes on soil fertility, distribution of nutrients, weed stand density, productivity and quality of spring wheat crop. Two different agricultural systems were investigated – conventional (CA) and precision (PA). In CA, mineral fertilizers were freely distributed before sowing. In PA, fertilization rate was chosen according to the measurements of soil electrical conductivity with a mobile machine “Veris 3150 MSP” and crop stand optical properties with “OptRx” sensors. In PA conditions, spring wheat plants were well distributed and effectively competed with weeds. In PA, the quantity of P2O5 in the soil varied from 108 to 212 mg·kg-1, K2O – from 97 to 143 mg·kg-1, pH – from 6.5 to 7.4. At the beginning of the experiment, in CA conditions, the yield of grain, quantity of protein and gluten was by 3.9, 2.8 and 3.8 % higher than in PA. The differences of spring wheat productivity and quality mainly depended on higher proportion of available nutrients in CA soils.