The yield monitor, equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS)
receiver, allows a producer to collect and save information on the spatial
variability of cotton yield. The GPS provides specially coded satellite
signals that are processed by a receiver, which computes the position,
speed, and time the sample was collected. The information about yield
and fiber properties is then entered into a geographic information system
(GIS) database.
The GIS software is used to translate that data into maps of different
fiber characteristicssuch as length, micronaire (fiber's fineness
and maturity), strength, and coloras well as yield. Various colors
are used to represent these different fiber properties on a map showing
where in the field they were harvested.
Once the cotton fiber properties have been determined, the value of
the cotton lint can be calculated from the same tables farmers use when
selling their cotton. This information can also be entered into the
GIS and used together with costs to determine overall profit margin.
Fiber Quality and Yield Quantity
Sassenrath is interested in improving cotton fiber quality. Developing
a method of spatially sampling cotton during harvesting operations helps
determine what underlying factors, such as soil moisture, may be affecting
fiber properties. She says soil qualities can alter moisture and temperature
in a small area of a field, changing the "microclimate" for
that area. These variations can make the fiber properties of cotton
plants in one area of the field better than those in another area.
The system has increased the scientists' understanding of how soil,
environment, water, and nutrients contribute to fiber development, cotton
yield, and quality. This information could lead to better management
scenariosand better cotton.
"Ideally, producers want to receive the best price for the whole
harvest," Sassenrath says. "They want to optimize their profit
margin by getting the highest return per acre. To do that, they have
to know the yield per acre. By knowing the value of the harvested crop
based on fiber properties, they can then calculate the profit margin
by subtracting the production input expenses."
The GIS map shows growers which areas of their fields need more attention
and which are producing cotton bolls with the best fiber properties.
While yield is an important component of profitability, knowledge of
fiber quality variability has contributed to the total knowledge of
the production system.
Although the research team initially developed the sampling system
for use in precision agriculture studies, researchers in other disciplines
are also interested in it. Cotton breeders in particular have become
aware of differences between hand- and machine-harvested fiber properties,
and they're looking at the sampling system as a means of getting more
accurate fiber-property measurements from their small test plots.
ARS isn't filing a patent on the system. Instead, it hopes to get the
information out where other researchers can use it.
Sassenrath is collaborating with engineers at Mississippi State University
in Starkville to automate the sampling system's trigger mechanism. Engineering
professor Filip To and two graduate students are devising a mechanism
for the cotton sampler paddle gate that will be triggered by the geoposition
of the cotton picker. This will permit quicker sampling and greater
accuracy in recording where a sample was collected.
At present, Sassenrath says, the system is a good research tool. "While
the system has already contributed substantial information on fiber
spatial variability and its dependence on underlying field variability,
the extra work in ginning and classing the small samples limits the
system's adaptability to a production setting," she says.
Sassenrath says her ultimate goal is to determine fiber quality onboard
the picker and have the cotton classed right there in the field. This
would give producers an instant measure of their crop's yield and quality.By
Jim Core,
Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
This research is part of Integrated Agricultural Systems, an ARS
National Program (#207) described on the World Wide Web at www.nps.ars.usda.gov.
Gretchen F. Sassenrath
is in the USDA-ARS Application
and Production Technology Research Unit, Jamie Whitten Delta States
Research Center, 141 Experiment Station Road, P.O. Box 36, Stoneville,
MS 38776; phone (662) 686-5289, fax (662) 686-5372.
"New Sampling System Helps Growers Improve Cotton Fiber Properties"
was published in the October
2004 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
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