Soil Science Articles
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Agronomic Modeling and AI Improving Results for Farmers
How does the GroGuru solution use AI to improve results seen by farmers? In a few ways! In this interview clip with Patrick Henry, CEO and our Chief Agronomist, David Sloane, they discuss the various tech specifics of how the GroGuru underground system works in regards to AI. Watch the clip here: Patrick: GroGuru doesn’t just do soil moisture, temperature sensing, and soil salinity ...
By GroGuru
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Agronomically Speaking: Fall Fertility? From Soil Test to Prescriptions
Farmers understand that soil fertility is a key component of growing healthy and high yielding crops. While there is much debate on how we accomplish soil fertility and health, there are some general items that are helpful to remember. However, because it was an extremely wet year for many across the country it is even more important to soil test this year. Some of the nutrients ...
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Regulating fertilizer applications in agriculture for healthier crops & environment
Farm Fertilizer - A Double-Edged Sword The excessive use of fertilizers is one of the main causes of the environmental impact of industrial agriculture. The notion that more is better has caused more harm than good to farming, as well as the environment. Therefore, using the right amount of fertilizers is considered an important part of farm management. To this end, there has been a lot of ...
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The Power of Fusing 3D with Multispec
3D assessment of plants became a commonly used technology in plant phenotyping to measure morphological and architectural features of plants. Although, 3D sensors such as PlantEye can be the workhorse for every phenotyping platform, it still lacks the ability to measure changes in color or other spectral information that are an important indicator for the plants physiological ...
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New animated video – introducing the key features of AP4 Leaf Porometer
Delta-T Devices has created a new 5 minute animated explainer video introducing the AP4 Leaf Porometer. It highlights the porometer’s unique design features and shows how it enables users to take fast, convenient and accurate measurements of stomatal conductance in leaves. The video explores the strong ergonomic benefits of the AP4 (including a strap-to-the-body design – which frees ...
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Leaf spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is a precise and non-destructive technique that can tell us about several processes going on in plants and trees. After being integrated into small handheld devices, it can provide instant and accurate results in the field, forests, and laboratories. It replaces several conventional methods, which were time-consuming and often needed weeks of estimation in expensive laboratories. By ...
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Intro to precision forestry
Never before has the interest in preserving natural forests and efficient management of plantations been as great as the present. Demand for wood products is increasing. On the other hand, it is also evident that the remaining forests have to be protected to maintain our quality of life—the very air we breathe depends on them. Therefore, precision management, which has been successfully ...
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The Forest Canopy: Structure, Roles & Measurement
If you are looking for a classic example of the circle of life, consider the forest canopy structure. A forest’s canopy structure is influenced by environmental and soil factors, and it also influences these factors in return. It is an aspect of forest ecology that is receiving more attention in this age of climate change emergency. The canopy structure is often overlooked, with most of the ...
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Feeding the world from organics
Washington State University researchers have concluded that feeding a growing global population with sustainability goals in mind is possible. Their review of hundreds of published studies provides evidence that organic farming can produce sufficient yields, be profitable for farmers, protect and improve the environment and be safer for farm workers. The review study, “Organic Agriculture ...
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Leaf Area - How & Why Measuring Leaf Area is Vital to Plant Research
What is Leaf Area? It is easy to measure leaves, and they are also the parts of a plant most responsive to their environment. The combination of these two factors makes leaf area measurement extremely useful to scientists and growers. Besides, leaves are one of the main plant organs and are responsible for the productivity of a plant, and on a larger scale, of an ecosystem or a farm. Therefore, ...
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Leaf area - How & why measuring leaf area is vital to plant research
It is easy to measure leaves, and they are also the parts of a plant most responsive to their environment. The combination of these two factors makes leaf area measurement extremely useful to scientists and growers. Besides, leaves are one of the main plant organs and are responsible for the productivity of a plant, and on a larger scale, of an ecosystem or a farm. Therefore, an understanding of ...
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Root analysis in the field: Industries & uses
Analysis of the root system is important in ensuring sustainable crop production, reducing nutrient input and irrigation, and protecting soil carbon pools. Getting rapid and frequent images of what is happening underground can help people make timely decisions about agricultural practices to maintain plant health and ensure the judicious use of resources. Root analysis can reduce financial and ...
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Root Analysis in the Field: Industries & Uses
Crops, Nutrients, Irrigation & Root Analysis Analysis of the root system is important in ensuring sustainable crop production, reducing nutrient input and irrigation, and protecting soil carbon pools. Getting rapid and frequent images of what is happening underground can help people make timely decisions about agricultural practices to maintain plant health and ensure the judicious use of ...
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Forest & plant canopy analysis - Tools & methods
The range of applications of canopy cover analysis is truly astounding. Canopy analysis derives its usefulness from the vitality of the canopy. Many methods to measure canopy cover have been developed in the last 80 years to meet various objectives. Not surprisingly, there have been several comparisons of the tools in different parts of the world. A general knowledge of canopy cover and the ...
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Forest & Plant Canopy Analysis - Tools & Methods
Canopy Analysis for Crop, Forest & Plant Research The range of applications of canopy cover analysis is truly astounding. Canopy analysis derives its usefulness from the vitality of the canopy. Many methods to measure canopy cover have been developed in the last 80 years to meet various objectives. Not surprisingly, there have been several comparisons of the tools in different parts of the ...
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Happy cows = better milk producers - Case Study
Recycling areas: TyreVarious scrap Company name: Erri-Comfort A/S (Danish Genetics A/S) Located: Skærbæk, Danmark Erri-Comfort A/S was founded by veterinarians specialised in diseases of cattle. They aim at preventing diseases and improve production in dairy herds. They produce a great part of our products ourselves and they are able to optimize in accordance with the ...
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Tree, Crop & Plant Stress – A Primer on Abiotic and Biotic Stressors
The natural conditions in which plants and trees grow are neither uniform nor controlled. Many changes or fluctuations, even if they are temporary, can have a negative impact on and stress plants. The factors which can lead to stress can be one of two types: abiotic or biotic. Stress can have serious repercussions on various phases of a plant’s growth and, ultimately, crop productivity. ...
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Tree, crop & plant stress – A primer on abiotic and biotic stressors
The natural conditions in which plants and trees grow are neither uniform nor controlled. Many changes or fluctuations, even if they are temporary, can have a negative impact on and stress plants. The factors which can lead to stress can be one of two types: abiotic or biotic. Stress can have serious repercussions on various phases of a plant’s growth and, ultimately, crop productivity. ...
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Indigo’s partnership with Anheuser-Busch: a major step towards beneficial agriculture
The agriculture industry is currently one of the biggest contributors to human caused greenhouse gas emissions, but I believe that it is also one of the most hopeful solutions for slowing and reversing climate change. Agricultural crops have the potential to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester it in the soil, and the sheer size of the ag industry makes this approach one of the only ...
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The Importance of Leaf Area Index (LAI) in Environmental and Crop Research
Leaf Area Index (LAI), which is used as a measure in hundreds of studies on forests, crops, climate and the environment, is calculated as half the area of all leaves per unit area of ground. It is measured as the leaf area (m2 ) per ground area (m–2) and is unit-less. So, a plant with a LAI of 2 has an amount of leaves that can cover a given area two times. LAI is calculated for a plant or ...
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