Abstract
A system including wireless-communication and GPS technologies was designed, constructed and field tested to enable site-specific crop management in cotton production in the form of fiber-quality mapping. The system is comprised of three functional sub-systems associated with the three machines typically used in cotton harvesting: harvester, boll buggy and module builder. Harvest area for a basket load of cotton is recorded with GPS, and the module into which a basket is dumped is tracked through wireless communication among the sub-systems. In three field tests, the system was easily installed on equipment and performed as designed. Fiber-quality maps were produced by combining the GPS-based module area data collected during harvest with bale-level fiber-quality data measured at a cotton classing office after ginning. Statistical analysis showed significant differences in most cotton fiber properties among mapped modules, and spatial trends were identified. The system provides a useful tool for studying spatial variability in cotton fiber quality.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 90-103 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Precision Agriculture |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cotton
- Fiber-quality mapping
- GPS
- Harvesting
- Site-specific crop management
- Wireless communication
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)