Advanced Sensing & Management Technology in Specialty Crops

Overview

This project addresses current management issues in deciduous tree crops, to optimize resource use. We strive to provide:

• Management recommendations for tree crops which are site-specific, time-specific and adaptive to local conditions.
• Fertilization and irrigation programs which account for variation in space and time.
• Guidelines for nitrogen and water management for the ongoing refinement of 'Best Management Practices.'

Specific project goals are to: 1) Quantify and manage spatial and temporal variability of production parameters in orchards and 2) Develop tools to allow site and year specific nutrient and water management. Three integrated activities address these goals:

Demand Estimation
Plant and orchard (or vineyard) scale investigations of nitrogen and water demand and fluxes, and modeling of crop nutrient and water demand

Status Determination
Plant and orchard (or vineyard) based determination of water and nutrient status, and remote and local sensing of water and nutrient status

Integration and Validation
Beta-development of a web-based decision-support toolkit ‘NutMan’ under control and deficit conditions, and iteratively testing to refine and validate models and tools.