Mapping of slopes for the operation of agricultural harvesters in Bandeirantes Municipality (PR)

Abstract

The slope of terrain represents a risk factor for mechanized harvesting, leading to impediments or restrictions on agricultural operations, or even to machines toppling over in the field. Recently, the Digital Terrain Model (DTM) has become widely adopted as one of the most viable techniques for obtaining slope and elevation. Therefore, this study aims to assess methods of acquiring DTMs to calculate the slope, and to determine the areas that are suitable and unsuitable for the operation of harvesters in the municipality of Bandeirantes (PR). Four methods were selected to produce DTMs for the construction of slope zoning maps applicable for harvester operations. The image sources included SRTM, ASTER GDEM, digitizing contour lines and kriging of spatial point data. After generating DTMs by the four different methods, the area suitable for the operation of harvesters was obtained based on the limits of operational slopes for harvesters in the literature. The high-resolution images, such as those obtained by scanning the contour lines and ASTER GDEM gave the best representation of the ground surface. Regardless of the method used to obtain the operational slopes, the municipality has a large area that is suitable for mechanized harvesting. Key words: Terrain slope. Risk factor. Mechanized harvester. ResumoA declividade do terreno corresponde a um fator de risco para a colheita mecanizada, levando a restrições e impedimento das operações agrícolas ou até mesmo ao tombamento de máquinas no campo. O modelo numérico do terreno se difundiu nos últimos anos como uma das técnicas mais viáveis para obtenção da declividade e altimetria. Portanto, este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar metodologias de aquisição do modelo numérico do terreno para calcular a declividade e determinar as áreas aptas e inaptas para operacionalidade de colhedoras agrícolas no município de Bandeirantes (PR). Adotaram-se quatro métodos de obtenção do modelo numérico do terreno para a elaboração de mapas de zoneamento da declividade operacional de colhedoras agrícolas. Foram utilizadas imagens da missão SRTM, Aster Gdem, da digitalização das curvas de nível e interpolação por krigagem. Após a geração dos modelos numérico do terreno pelos diferentes métodos, obteve-se a declividade operacional da área com base na literatura. As imagens com alta resolução como as obtidas pela digitalização das curvas de nível e Aster Gdem forneceram uma representação mais adequada da superfície do terreno. O município possui uma grande área apta à colheita mecanizada, independentemente do método utilizado para a obtenção da declividade operacional. Palavras-chave: Declividade do terreno. Fator de risco. Colheita mecanizada.

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