NEW ROBUST SOIL MOISTURE SENSORS: DATA ACCESS AND DISPLAY VIA BLUETOOTH OR INTERNET: SUPPORT FOR IRRIGATION SCHEDULING McBurney Scientific Limited We develop and provide instruments that aim to greatly simplify the task of monitoring soil moisture for effective, efficient and sustainable irrigation of agricultural crops, sports and amenity turf and landscape gardens. We are a new company whose founders are a former research scientist with an international reputation in crop water measurement, and a former CEO of an agriculture instrumentation plc company with considerable business experience. Innovation Our key innovation is a robust heat-pulse moisture sensor based on a principle favoured by soil scientists that requires no user calibration and achieves high accuracy and repeatability over time. The measurements are directly related to plant water availability and independent of soil type, which makes it particularly useful for managing irrigation of farm crops. Uniquely, McBurney Scientific also calibrate all sensors individually in order to maximise accuracy. McBurney Scientific have further developed a compact electronics system known as T:Wave (™) which has built-in batteries and solar charger for independent operation and transmits readings by radio telemetry with the option of "drive-by" access using hand-held PDA from a distance of 100m (T:Waveblue) or automatic download to a data website for access from any location in the world (T:Wavei ) via a password-protected account. McBurney Scientific also provides support services that, for the first time, enable farms and other enterprises to test different irrigation strategies using advanced computer simulation modeling, where we generate animated views of water and nutrient movement in the soil profile. This is a unique service previously used for research, which we have tailored for the requirements of irrigation scheduling. |
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Plants consist largely of water and lose considerable amounts through the leaves by the process of transpiration. When transpiration exceeds the rate water can move through the roots and soil then plants become water stressed and growth is reduced. Plant water stress is the main cause of economic losses in yield and quality in agriculture production. Avoiding plant water stress requires effective irrigation that is correctly
timed so as to avoid damaging levels of soil moisture tension, which
inhibits water flow to the roots. “The requirements of effective and efficient irrigation can be met directly by routinely measuring soil moisture, or indirectly by estimating evapo-transpiration and calculating how much water has been removed.” The latter option, however, is often prone to invalid assumptions and cumulative errors. “Although most growers accept that soil moisture data is the basis for good irrigation management the monitoring is still largely qualitative, which is seldom accurate”. Such reluctance to adopt soil moisture measurements has been partly due to the available sensor technologies, which are old and unreliable, or require specialists to operate them and interpret the results. |
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To address these problems McBurney Scientific have developed the new T:Wave soil moisture meter based on our novel robust thermal-pulse moisture sensor, which we supply pre-calibrated for soil moisture tension and temperature and includes our compact electronics system for data logging and wireless data access. The options for capturing and displaying the data are either a hand-held PDA or, most conveniently, an internet connection to our data-website. |
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We support a method of irrigation scheduling that does not require detailed depth profiling of soil moisture and greatly simplifies the growers’ task. With this approach a recording sensor is located in the main root zone to show the rate of moisture depletion, then correct timing for irrigation is indicated when readings approach a user-defined threshold. Additional sensor locations may be spaced around the field to provide reassurance on large sites, or if spatial variation is expected to be large. The grower judges the amount of water required for each irrigation event based on their experience but preferably informed by scientific analysis of the crop-specific environment (see support below). In any event, a second sensor located below the root zone can check for rising moisture levels which would indicate over-irrigation and thus help inform the grower’s experience. |
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Growers need to decide the optimum sensor location, irrigation threshold criteria and irrigation regime for each crop. McBurney Scientific can enable growers, for the first time, to test different irrigation strategies using our advanced computer modelling methods in which we generate animated views of water and nutrient movement in the soil profile. This is a unique service that we have tailored for the requirements of irrigation scheduling. To use this service requires information on the individual crop, irrigation system and soil moisture characteristics. We can estimate these input parameters to provide approximate solutions, which is cheaper, but for applications requiring greater accuracy we can measure the soil physical properties and other site specific data. For further information on McBurney Scientific Limited, T:Wave and Support Service please complete our enquiry form or revisit this site for future announcements. |
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Farmer Perceptions of Irrigation Management: A Survey of Farmers Approaches to & Perceptions about Irrigation Management Farmers perceptions about irrigation scheduling in the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment Trends: Trickle irrigation - is it the way to go for potato growers? Climate Change and its Impact on Water Use in Field Crops Irrigation Scheduling: Irrigation Scheduling To Improve Water- And Energy-Use Efficiencies |
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Scheduling
Irrigation: When To Water Crops And How Much
To Apply?
