Microcontroller based Automatic Spot Granular Fertilizer Dispensing Machine for Orchards

Abstract

A healthy orchard necessitates well-balanced nutrition. In order to achieve a high yield, fertilizer application in the proper amount and position is important. Existing fertilizer application methods (band placement, pellet application, and ring basin method) have limitations such as excessive fertilizer application, soil acidity, nutrient imbalance, soil structure damage, bulk density rise, and more. A spot fertilizer applicator that can dispense the proper amount of fertilizer at right site can reduce fertilizer waste, lowering pollution and input costs. As a result, a novel grooved belt type metering system was designed with an autonomous plant detection-based spot fertilizer application. The fertilizer placement and consistency of amount dispensed per plant of the applicator were assessed in the lab. The independent parameters were metering belt groove volume (50, 100 and 150 cm3), metering belt speed (8, 9 and 10 m.min−1), plant spacing (45, 60, 75 and 90 cm) and forward speed (2, 2.5 and 3 km.h−1). Forward speed had a considerable impact on the band length, whereas groove volume and belt speed had a substantial impact on the lateral placement parameters. Because plant spacing had no significant effect and the means of real and measured fertilizer application amounts were equal, the machine was found suitable for applying fertilizer with any plant spacing. Using a full factorial experimental design, the optimal values for independent parameters such as groove volume, plant spacing, belt speed, and forward speed were assessed 50 cm3, 78.4 cm, 8.74 m.min−1, and 2.72 km.h−1, respectively with a high desirability of 0.971. In comparison to mechanical sensing type available spot fertilizer applicators, the developed spot fertilizer applicator required half the sensing and actuation time and had three times less fluctuation in fertilizer dosing.