Articles
Precise monitoring of soil moisture with an AI-based ‘smart’ system for optimizing yield and fruit quality of yellow fleshed kiwifruit in northern Italy
Article number
1468_60
Pages
465 – 472
Language
English
Abstract
The control of soil moisture is fundamental for optimizing water supply, plant performances and fruit quality.
In a field experiment we tested the effectiveness of SMARTER, an original approach able to define, thanks to a grid of sensors, the continuous variation of soil moisture in the whole unit of soil explored by roots.
The study was carried out, from 2021 to 2024, in northern Italy, on kiwifruit Zesy002 (A. chinensis var. chinensis) grafted, in 2012, onto micro-propagated Hayward (A. chinensis var. deliciosa) planted at a distance of 4.5×2 m.
During the experiment a traditional irrigation system (CONTROL) was compared to smart irrigation (SMARTER). Water management in the control treatment was carried out according to the advisory service, based on daily evapotranspiration, soil texture, crop phenological stage; while SMARTER supplied water taking into consideration the soil water content measured by potentiometric probes located according to a specific grid of sensors.
Irrigation started when soil matric potential dropped below −0.1 MPa in more than 50% of the volume of soil explored by roots and was aimed at returning the same amount of water lost the day before by evapotranspiration.
During the experiment, compared to the control, SMARTER reduced the volume of water by 20 to 40% without impairing plant water status and yield.
Fruit juice soluble solid concentration and fruit dry matter at harvest and after 2 and 4 months of storage, was increased by the smart irrigation system.
SMARTER water management also induced a lower fruit firmness and yellow pulp color at harvest.
Taking into consideration the costs of the whole system, the saving of water, the decrease of power used for irrigation and the increase of fruit quality, SMARTER provides a cost-effective, operative, and precise solution to monitor soil water availability.
In a field experiment we tested the effectiveness of SMARTER, an original approach able to define, thanks to a grid of sensors, the continuous variation of soil moisture in the whole unit of soil explored by roots.
The study was carried out, from 2021 to 2024, in northern Italy, on kiwifruit Zesy002 (A. chinensis var. chinensis) grafted, in 2012, onto micro-propagated Hayward (A. chinensis var. deliciosa) planted at a distance of 4.5×2 m.
During the experiment a traditional irrigation system (CONTROL) was compared to smart irrigation (SMARTER). Water management in the control treatment was carried out according to the advisory service, based on daily evapotranspiration, soil texture, crop phenological stage; while SMARTER supplied water taking into consideration the soil water content measured by potentiometric probes located according to a specific grid of sensors.
Irrigation started when soil matric potential dropped below −0.1 MPa in more than 50% of the volume of soil explored by roots and was aimed at returning the same amount of water lost the day before by evapotranspiration.
During the experiment, compared to the control, SMARTER reduced the volume of water by 20 to 40% without impairing plant water status and yield.
Fruit juice soluble solid concentration and fruit dry matter at harvest and after 2 and 4 months of storage, was increased by the smart irrigation system.
SMARTER water management also induced a lower fruit firmness and yellow pulp color at harvest.
Taking into consideration the costs of the whole system, the saving of water, the decrease of power used for irrigation and the increase of fruit quality, SMARTER provides a cost-effective, operative, and precise solution to monitor soil water availability.
Authors
M. Quartieri, M. Golfarelli, M. Toselli, M. Francia, A. Baiardi, M. Pasini, P.A. Berríos Reyes, A. Temnani Rajjaf, E. Baldi
Keywords
Actinidia chinensis, soil moisture probes, soluble solid content, soil matric potential, SMARTER
Groups involved
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