Sensor Based Nitrogen Management for Cotton Production In Coastal Plain Soils

Tests were conducted, during 2009 and 2010 growing season 1) to develop/refine algorithms for predicting the mid-season side-dress nitrogen requirements for irrigated and dry land cotton; 2) to determine the efficacy of the Clemson algorithms compared to a typical grower's practice and other algorithms developed for southern USA; 3) to determine the effects of nitrogen application rates on crop parameters such as fiber quality and seed nitrogen contents; 4) to develop a map-based variable rate nitrogen application system that can be retrofitted onto growers' existing fertilizer applicators; 5) to determine the effects of equipment height and time of day on performance of the GreenSeeker® NDVI sensor; and 6) to determine the feasibility of utilizing ultra-sonic height sensors for predicting plant height on-the-go.  This presentation will cover the results from these field experiments.