| Advanced Sensing Technology for Improving Nutrient Management in Barley |
| Student: Abdulazeez Tukur Industry partner: Diageo Supervisors: Professor Mark Cutler and Dr Alexandra Morel (UoD), Dr Steve Hoad and Professor Bob Rees (SRUC), Professor Katherine Smart and Dr Matthew Crow (Diageo) |
| Objectives |
| This project will contribute to our understanding of the most efficient and effective ways for improving nutrient use and application to barley crops of different varieties, through monitoring crop growth under different nutrient management scenarios with a range of remote sensing technologies. This will be done through a series of field-based experiments at different scales. Specifically, the objectives of the project are: 1. To identify the scope for reducing input waste through a combination of both agronomic and remote sensing-based approaches (measuring crop chlorophyll content, fluorescence, and reflectance characteristics) to identify the N status of plants at every stage of the crop’s development, understanding the amount of N recovery by the plants and magnitude of potential non-uptake of nutrients. 2. Identify strategies to manage nutrients and fertilizers more efficiently through calculating measures of nutrient-use efficiency (NUE) (including agronomic efficiency (AE), physiological efficiency (PE), partial factor productivity (PFP), and recovery efficiency) to identify efficient strategies for the management of N application in barley production. 3. Identify N application strategies capable of reducing losses through determining the most suitable time interval between successive N applications within each of the recommended stages at which the level of N loss is minimal (as opposed to single/full dose applications) and estimate GHG emissions from each of the N treatments. |
| Progress to date |
| The research comprises a series of annual field-based experiments, each being informed by the previous, and at which we seek to understand N status, losses and impacts on yield at plot/field-scales. The first field-based experiment is taking place in the Spring/Summer of 2023 and is assessing nitrogen response of two barley varietals laid out in a split-plot experimental design and replicated four times (total of 32 individual plots). There are four nitrogen application rates (0, 60, 120, and 180 kg per ha) and two varieties of barley (Fairing and Laureate), both established on the 19th of April at the SRUC barley trial site in Hermiston, Edinburgh. Prior to the establishment of the experiment, soil samples were collected from the experimental field (one from each replicate) to determine the a priori physical and chemical properties of the soil at the site. Plant samples have been collected from each of the 32 plots for chemical analysis. Samples have been collected at the peak of every stage of the development of the crop, starting from the seedling growth stage. From each sample biomass weight, total shoot nitrogen, and chlorophyll content has been determined. A total of 256 samples have been collected and analysed, with total plant nitrogen analysis due to be completed soon. Fluorescence measurements obtained from a PhotosynQ fluorometer were completed for all 32 plots on each day that physical samples were collected. Crop canopy reflectance was measured using an SVC spectroradiometer four times during the experiment (during tillering, stem elongation, booting, and milk development stages). Measurements were restricted due to weather conditions during June/July 2023 but should still yield important spectral markers nutrient recovery during key crop growth stages. Yield, grain quality and grain chemical analysis will be determined at harvest to understand the impact of nutrient recovery on productivity and malting quality. |
| Future plans |
| Results and findings from the 2023 field experiment will be used to inform the design and implementation of subsequent field experiments. Currently we plan to conduct two further field-based experiments to (i) explore further the rate and magnitude of nitrogen and sulphur recovery (and loss/waste) through analysis of spectral / photosynthetic markers which can be adopted and applied to field-scale measurements. This is likely through hyper temporal remote sensing monitoring of crop development and growth; (ii) further investigate the relationships between the timing of nutrient application/recovery and malting quality and productivity; and (iii) investigate the impact of scaling up measurements to monitoring scales that can be achieved through drone- and satellite-based measurements. |