Articles
SOIL NUTRISENSE, a decision support system to optimize nutrient supply in soil-grown vegetable crops in greenhouses
Article number
1437_38
Pages
299 – 306
Language
English
Abstract
The Green Deal of the EU has set targets for reducing nutrient losses by 50% and fertiliser use by at least 20% by 2030 which will benefit both the environment and farmers.
To achieve this goal in soil-grown vegetable crops in greenhouses, the applied fertilisation scheme should be tailored to the nutrient requirements of the cultivated crop species, while considering the nutrient reserves in the soil.
However, the practical application of this concept by growers is not a simple issue.
A major difficulty arises from the difficulty of correctly interpreting the results of the soil analyses and converting these into quantitative recommendations as target applied nutrient concentrations for fertigated crops.
To overcome these difficulties and contribute to the objectives of Green Deal to reduce nutrient emissions from agriculture, the Horizon Europe Innovation Project ECONUTRI uses a series of nature-based solutions and technologies.
One of the technologies provided by ECONUTRI is the development of novel decision support systems specifically designed to support growers in precisely adjusting fertiliser application rates to crop needs.
One DSS developed by ECONUTRI is SOIL NUTRISENSE, which can be used to calculate a full fertilisation scheme tailored to the needs of a particular crop, and to readjust it during the cropping period based on an actual soil analyses.
To test the SOIL NUTRISENSE DSS, two simulation studies were conducted with a tomato crop grown in a greenhouse soil and fertigated according to the recommendations of this DSS. In these simulation studies, the soil K+ or Ca2+ concentration was considered as a variable in the algorithms, aiming to estimate the optimal nutrient concentrations in the supplied fertigation solution for some key macronutrients.
The results of the current simulation study, along with results from relevant field experiments, have been used to properly calibrate algorithms included in SOIL NUTRISENSE.
To achieve this goal in soil-grown vegetable crops in greenhouses, the applied fertilisation scheme should be tailored to the nutrient requirements of the cultivated crop species, while considering the nutrient reserves in the soil.
However, the practical application of this concept by growers is not a simple issue.
A major difficulty arises from the difficulty of correctly interpreting the results of the soil analyses and converting these into quantitative recommendations as target applied nutrient concentrations for fertigated crops.
To overcome these difficulties and contribute to the objectives of Green Deal to reduce nutrient emissions from agriculture, the Horizon Europe Innovation Project ECONUTRI uses a series of nature-based solutions and technologies.
One of the technologies provided by ECONUTRI is the development of novel decision support systems specifically designed to support growers in precisely adjusting fertiliser application rates to crop needs.
One DSS developed by ECONUTRI is SOIL NUTRISENSE, which can be used to calculate a full fertilisation scheme tailored to the needs of a particular crop, and to readjust it during the cropping period based on an actual soil analyses.
To test the SOIL NUTRISENSE DSS, two simulation studies were conducted with a tomato crop grown in a greenhouse soil and fertigated according to the recommendations of this DSS. In these simulation studies, the soil K+ or Ca2+ concentration was considered as a variable in the algorithms, aiming to estimate the optimal nutrient concentrations in the supplied fertigation solution for some key macronutrients.
The results of the current simulation study, along with results from relevant field experiments, have been used to properly calibrate algorithms included in SOIL NUTRISENSE.
Publication
Authors
D. Savvas, E. Giannothanasis, P. Kalozoumis, I. Karavidas, T. Ntanasi, K. Argyropoulou, G. Ntatsi
Keywords
fertigation, liquid fertilization, NUTRISENSE, soil analysis, decision support system
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