Precision agriculture is a farming management concept based on observing, measuring and responding to inter- and intra-field variability in crops. In this paper, we focus on responding to intra-field variability in potato crops and analyse variable rate applications (VRAs). We made an overview of potential VRAs in potato crop management in The Netherlands. We identified 13 potential VRAs in potato, ranging from soil tillage to planting to crop care to selective harvest. We ranked them on availability of ‘proof of concept’ and on-farm test results. For five VRAs, we found test results allowing to make a cost-benefit assessment. These five VRAs were as follows: planting, soil herbicide weed control, N side dress, late blight control and haulm killing. They use one of two types of spatial data: soil maps or biomass index maps. Data on costs and savings of the VRAs showed that the investments in VRAs will pay off under practical conditions in The Netherlands. Savings on pesticide use and N-fertilizer use with the VRAs were on average about 25%, which benefits the environment too. We foresee a slow but gradual adoption of VRAs in potato production. More VRAs will become available given ongoing R&D. The perspectives of VRAs in potatoes are discussed.
The effects of initial inoculum levels on spatio-temporal development in black rot of cabbage from artificial sources, one per plot, were evaluated in replicated field experiments. The results support the hypothesis that black rot is a polycyclic disease. Its development was inoculum-dependent because the progress rate of epidemics and spatial spread were both positively correlated with the strength of the source. Fast disease development was related to the number of rain days. The spread of black rot, associated with the primary gradient, at first resulted from allo-infection, later followed by a phase during which allo-infection was complemented by auto-infection. Three-dimensional maps of disease severity showed the dominance of the primary focus. Maximum distance of black rot symptoms from the source of the focus was limited to a few metres so that damage to cabbage by focal inoculum was limited to the plants close to the source. Spatio-temporal development and initial inoculum were related. High inoculum levels in point sources resulted in faster outward spread of black rot, and differences between low and high levels were generally significant. Under the conditions of the experiments, performed during three relatively dry seasons, a single source of infection measuring 0·5 × 0·5 m was not capable of spreading disease over all the plants in a plot of 6·5 × 6·5 m. The results imply that severe disease where whole crops are infected, as observed regularly in The Netherlands, can only originate from a large number of small foci per field.
Disease progress and gradient curves of black rot on cabbage were evaluated in field plots of the cultivars Bartolo, Erdeno, Perfect Ball, and Roxy in The Netherlands during 1991 and. Plots were inoculated by single sources in the centre of each plot. Individual plants were examined for disease incidence and severity. Disease progress was described by the Gompertz model. The overall measure of absolute rate (disease progress rate r multiplied with maximum disease intensity K) was used to compare cultivar effects on disease progress. Disease gradients were described by the negative exponential model. The percentile distance (distance from the source at which disease intensity reached 1% of the empirical maximum disease intensity) was used to compare cultivar effects on disease spread. Disease severity is more sensitive than disease incidence to calculate the disease progress and spread of black rot. Measures of progress and gradient were about equally effective to screen cultivars for field resistance to black rot. Perfect Ball was the most susceptible, Erdeno and Bartolo were intermediate and Roxy was the most resistant for incidence and severity measures. Increased levels of field resistance reduced the development of black rot in time and in space. Field resistance of black rot is thought to be composed of several mechanisms. Microplots provide a good instrument for the assessment of small differences in field resistance, expressed equally well in disease progress as in disease gradient curves.
Quantitative data were collected to describe the relation between temperature and growth of the cabbage black rot pathogen, Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc). Relative growth rates derived from experiments at constant temperatures were used in dynamic simulation of bacterial population development. The relative growth rates were adequate to simulate growth of Xcc populations at constant temperatures but overestimated growth of populations at variable temperatures. This finding gives rise to the hypothesis, that under field conditions, disease development is slower than is expected on the basis of growth parameters obtained from studies with constant temperatures.
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