LESS FERTILIZER, MORE CORN

ESTIMATION OF NITRATE LEVELS IN CORN PLANTS

Containerless Research Inc. (a client of ours that loves to work with lasers, polarizers, and other assorted optical devices) is presently developing a portable hyper-spectral polarization profiler (HYPOP) for remote sensing of vegetation. The HYPOP is designed to exploit the polarization characteristics of light scattered from vegetation; the depolarization upon reflection can be used to directly infer the physiological state of the vegetation. Plant parameters including fertilization levels, moisture content, mineral content and stress levels can be deduced from hyperspectral depolarization data.

The HYPOP consists of a flashlamp light source, grating-based hyperspectral detectors, GPS receiver, and custom optics and electronics subsystems that allow depolarization measurements over a 400-900 nm spectral range with 1% accuracy in much less than 1 second.

Indus is working with the client to develop portable, low power electronics to operate dual spectrometers, acquire high speed data, process and display polarization plots, and record GPS data. Successful field trails of the first prototype were conducted last year in corn fields in Danville, IL.

The end use of this novel device is optimization of nitrate levels during farming. Over fertilization is a common problem since farmers tend to err on the high side to maximize crop yields. Excess nitrate levels in the Mississippi river from farm water runoff are suspected to be the cause of the dead zone (an oxygen depleted area harmful to marine life) in the Gulf of Mexico.