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Introduction

The variable rate technology (VRT) offers an opportunity to improve production efficiency by allowing agricultural input applications in amounts and locations where they are needed. The basic idea of variable rate fertilizer application is to allocate inputs more efficiently by exploiting spatial variations in soil type, topographic features, fertility levels, and other field characteristics VRT has the potential to lower the cost of production and improve farm profitability by avoiding unnecessary input use. Variable rate application includes GPS and GIS map-based, 鈥渙n-the-go鈥� sensor-based, or a combination of map and sensors.

Present nutrient management recommendations are typically uniform without considering the significant bare spots and weed patches in wild blueberry fields. However, the soils are highly variable spatially and therefore, the uniform management of agricultural inputs may results in over-application in areas with high productivity and under-application in areas with low productivity. Site-specific management of nutrients using variable rate spreader has been acknowledged as one means of addressing this problem. The most popular approach to manage spatial variability within fields is the use of management zones (MZs), in which field that have relatively homogeneous attributes in landscape and soil condition are subdivided, and this technique can be used to direct variable rate fertilizer application. The wild blueberry field has been reported to have significant bare spots and weed patches. Over-fertilization in weed patches and bare spots with conventional methods may affect water quality, and increase production cost. Therefore there is a need to develop variable rate spreader for accurate site-specific fertilization to maximize profit and minimize environmental impacts.

Objectives

The fertilizer spreader consists of a controller, metering device, DGPS, laptop computer, and Site Mate Farm Works Software. The variable rate spreader has been tested and evaluated for performance accuracy in wild blueberry fields. Repentantly, a prescription map was generated in Arc GIS based on the slope variation. The bare spots were mapped using GPS and were defined as a separate class in the prescription map. Zero fertilizer was allocated in the bare spots. One part of the field was fertilized uniformly at grower鈥檚 rate. The prescription map was uploaded in Farm Works software to apply variable rate fertilization as prescribed in the map. Lysemeters were also installed in the experimental field. The purpose of this experiment was to visualize the impact of variable fertilization on fruit yield and ground water quality.

Researchers

Dr. Qamar Zaman, Associate Professor, Engineering Department, NSAC

Scott Read (Senior Research Technician)

Dr. Young Ki Chang (Post Doctoral Fellow)

Shoaib Saleem (Graduate Student)

Aitazaz Farooque (Graduate Student)

Partners

This research was funded by Oxford Frozen Foods, Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Wild blueberry Producers Association of Nova Scotia and Agri-Futures (ACAAF) Nova Scotia.