Articles
A SECOND GENERATION MOBILE PLATFORM FOR ASSESSING MIDDAY CANOPY PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION INTERCEPTION IN ORCHARD SYSTEMS
Article number
1058_10
Pages
105 – 112
Language
English
Abstract
A second generation mobile platform has been developed and used for measuring midday canopy photosynthetically active radiation interception in orchard systems.
The system is equipped with a global positioning satellite (GPS) system and uses 800 photodiodes to measure light in the wavelength of photosynthetically active radiation and is adjustable to row widths of approximately 3 to 11 meters.
It operates at speeds of approximately 10 km hr-1 and data is recorded at 10 Hz on a datalogger.
The mobile platform has been used to investigate impacts of variety, pruning, soil fumigation and orchard age on canopy growth and productivity in almond and walnut.
In addition, a global positioning satellite equipped harvest trailer allows com-parison of spatial variability in photosynthetically active radiation interception and yield.
The mobile platform can also be used to assess productivity of a given orchard relative to others of the same age and/or canopy cover.
This system provides the opportunity to separate out the effects of tree growth from effects of production efficiency (productivity per unit canopy). In particular, a new variety can be evaluated as to whether it is more productive per unit canopy, or simply grows faster, with the latter case suggesting that productivity when the orchard reaches full canopy cover may not be increased.
Although the mobile platform has primarily been used in almond and walnut orchards, data has also been collected in hazelnut, olive, peach, pear, pistachio and prune orchards.
The system is equipped with a global positioning satellite (GPS) system and uses 800 photodiodes to measure light in the wavelength of photosynthetically active radiation and is adjustable to row widths of approximately 3 to 11 meters.
It operates at speeds of approximately 10 km hr-1 and data is recorded at 10 Hz on a datalogger.
The mobile platform has been used to investigate impacts of variety, pruning, soil fumigation and orchard age on canopy growth and productivity in almond and walnut.
In addition, a global positioning satellite equipped harvest trailer allows com-parison of spatial variability in photosynthetically active radiation interception and yield.
The mobile platform can also be used to assess productivity of a given orchard relative to others of the same age and/or canopy cover.
This system provides the opportunity to separate out the effects of tree growth from effects of production efficiency (productivity per unit canopy). In particular, a new variety can be evaluated as to whether it is more productive per unit canopy, or simply grows faster, with the latter case suggesting that productivity when the orchard reaches full canopy cover may not be increased.
Although the mobile platform has primarily been used in almond and walnut orchards, data has also been collected in hazelnut, olive, peach, pear, pistachio and prune orchards.
Publication
Authors
B. Lampinen, S. Upadhyaya, V. Udompetaikul, G. Browne, J. Roach, S. Metcalf, W. Stewart, L. Contador, C. Negron, I.P. Gómez, B. Beede, C. DeBuse, D. Doll, R. Duncan, J. Edstrom, R. Elkins, E. Fichtner, J. Grant, J. Hasey, B. Holtz, K. Kelley, B. Krueger, F. Niederholzer, J. Olson
Keywords
almond, walnut, PAR interception/yield relationships, light interception, yield, mobile platform
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