Digital soil survey technologies help the agricultural producer to maximize the natural potential of soil fertility.
At the same time, the essence of digital technologies is to create an electronic image of a terrain (field) in space, each point of which has its own "unique" coordinates, "tied" to spatial coordinates on the ground. Each point of the electronic map is matched with data on the content of the main microelements in the soil, the features of the relief, the explication of the slope, and other indicators that are important in the cultivation of agricultural crops. culture. With the help of artificial intelligence technologies and analysis of all data, including weather data, an imitation (mathematical, software, informational) model of the growth of biomass of a given agricultural value is being built. culture. On the basis of this model, the requirements for agricultural elements are calculated. crops to ensure and achieve the planned yield and a plan for their purchase.
Agrochemical survey technologies created in the last century cannot provide the required accuracy and reliability, since they are based on the use of manual labor and are entirely dependent on the “human” factor.
The technology of robotic agrochemical survey (RoboAgroSur - robotic agrochemical survey) is based on the application of digital solutions in practice and refers to a promising IoT technology. First, an electronic map of the area with predetermined sampling points is loaded into a robotic complex (an agricultural robot based on an all-terrain vehicle) RoboProb. Roboprob moves across the field along a given route along the coordinates from one pick point to another. The design of the chassis makes it possible to take soil samples on fallow lands, on stubble, on plowing and during the growing season of the agricultural sector. culture. Thus, the influence of the "human" factor is minimized, the reliability of the soil sample is maximally increased with a significant increase in the productivity of its sampling (tens of times).
Digital technologies for calculating doses of mineral fertilizers make it possible, on the one hand, to make the soil a “correct” diagnosis, and on the other hand, to prescribe the correct “treatment”. Economic analysis allows you to optimize the results obtained and give a recommendation on which fertilizers to use in order to pay less and yield more.
Of course, digital soil surveys are costly, but after optimization calculations they are cheaper for farmers and significantly save money on fertilizers in the first years of their use.
In 2019-2020, the RoboProb company conducted field tests of RoboProb robotic systems in several regions of the Southern Federal District, Central Black Earth Region and the Volga region. The agro-robots performed well in the field. On average, one robotic complex produced more than 100 soil samples per day. Each soil sample received its own "personal" coordinates. As a control, the customer was shown the points of sampling of any soil sample of his choice. Sounds a bit weird, but in a huge field, I was able to easily find a few small holes in the soil that fit perfectly with the sampling plan.
Soil sampling routes are loaded for each field. The movement of the complex from point to point is carried out automatically, the operator at any time can take over control remotely or, being directly on the all-terrain vehicle. Due to the automation of the soil sampling process, the management of all sampling processes does not require high qualifications: the RoboProb complex can be serviced by a person with smartphone control skills. Agrochemical education is not required.
The RoboLab express analysis laboratory allows, under conditions close to field conditions, to obtain high-quality analyzes of soil samples for the main nutrients N (nitrate and ammonium), P, K and soil acidity. For analyzes, the method of capillary electrophoresis is used. The operator prepares the sample and prepares the "extract" from the soil on the basis of distilled water.
The entire analysis process is fully automated; to work with the laboratory, the level of training of a laboratory assistant with secondary education is sufficient. The laboratory productivity is 50 complex analyzes per day. To obtain data on microelements, soil samples are submitted to state agrochemical laboratories.
An electronic soil map is built on the basis of the data of the analysis of soil samples and the coordinates of the points of their sampling.
On this basis, additional information on soil indices NDVI and others, cartograms of streams and slope explication are superimposed in layers. As a result of the data analysis, the field is zoned according to the soil fertility levels. According to the agronomist on crop rotation, planned data on the yield of agricultural. crops, the availability of mineral fertilizers and the possibility of their purchase, also according to the calculation of the yield forecast, a map of the doses of differentiated fertilization is built. The result is issued as SHP files for Amazone and John Deere spreaders.
Robotic agrochemical field survey has shown high efficiency when working with potato growers. Agricultural robots were used in the Bryansk region (LLC "KFH Putsko"), in the Moscow region (LLC "Sovkhoz Provodnik"). Soil samples were taken from an elementary plot of 5 hectares. The results of work on the described technology even exceeded the expectations of customers.
From 2021, the innovative RoboAgroSur technology is planned to be applied on potato fields in various regions of the Russian Federation with a scale of more than 40 hectares.