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Sustainable Agriculture by Increasing Nitrogen Fertilizer Efficiency Using Low-Resolution Camera Mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Author

Listed:
  • Dong-Wook Kim

    (Department of Biosystems & Biomaterials Science and Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
    These authors also contributed equally to this work.)

  • Tae-Sun Min

    (Department of Animal Biotechnology, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea
    These authors also contributed equally to this work.)

  • Yoonha Kim

    (Plant Bioscience, School of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea)

  • Renato Rodrigues Silva

    (Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, Federal University of Goias, Goiania 74001-970, Brazil)

  • Hae-Nam Hyun

    (Department of Plant Resources and Environment, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea)

  • Ju-Sung Kim

    (Department of Plant Resources and Environment, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea)

  • Kyung-Hwan Kim

    (National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration (RDA), Jeonju 54874, Korea)

  • Hak-Jin Kim

    (Department of Biosystems & Biomaterials Science and Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea)

  • Yong Suk Chung

    (Department of Plant Resources and Environment, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea)

Abstract

Nitrogen use efficiency in modern agriculture is very low. It means that a lot of synthetic chemicals are wasted rather than utilized by crops. This can cause more problems where the soil surface is thin and rocky like Jeju Island in the Republic of Korea. This is because overly used nitrogen fertilizer can be washed into the underground water and pollute it. Thus, it would be important to monitor the nitrogen deficiency of crops in the field to provide the right amount of nitrogen in a timely manner so that nitrogen waste can be limited. To achieve this, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used to monitor chlorophyll content, which is tightly associated with nitrogen content in the buckwheat field. The NDVI was calculated with the data obtained by a low-resolution camera mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle. The results showed that the NDVI can estimate the chlorophyll content of buckwheat. These simple but clear results imply that precision agriculture could be achieved even with a low-resolution camera in a cost-effective manner to reduce the pollution of underground water.

Suggested Citation

  • Dong-Wook Kim & Tae-Sun Min & Yoonha Kim & Renato Rodrigues Silva & Hae-Nam Hyun & Ju-Sung Kim & Kyung-Hwan Kim & Hak-Jin Kim & Yong Suk Chung, 2019. "Sustainable Agriculture by Increasing Nitrogen Fertilizer Efficiency Using Low-Resolution Camera Mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-10, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:20:p:3893-:d:276347
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