Site-specific weed control: desempeño de un detector de maleza diseñado y construido en el instituto de ingeniería rural de inta castelar. Parte I.

Abstract

Uniform spraying is widely used in herbicide applications in Argentina. On the other hand, the distribution of weeds is often “patchy” rather than “even”, which generates an inefficient use of herbicides. Many approaches have been proposed for weed detection in the world. A red and near-infra-red range (RR/NIR) weed detector was designed and made by researchers of INTA. The aim of this study was to evaluate the system in different surfaces in order to determine its performance. A factorial design with 4 different soil conditions (soil, stubble, cynodon dactylon and amaranthus quitensis H.B.K) and 3 different hours of daylight was employed. The results were statistically analyzed by means of analysis of variance. It was established that the weed detector system not only was capable of distinguishing between weed plots and soil or stubble plots but it also showed a steady behavior for those times of the day chosen.