Development of an Automatic System to Detect and Spray Herbicides in Corn Fields

Abstract

Weed control is vital in agricultural production. Chemical control methods are generally preferred in weed control as they (1) affect quickly and (2) reduce the labour requirement. However, in conventional applications chemicals are generally applied to whole field surface. Therefore, non-targeted areas are also sprayed. This increases 1) amount of herbicide used and (2) risk of off-target chemical movement. In this study, a patch spraying system was developed to automatically detect and spray herbicides on weeds in the corn field based on weed density. In order to determine the weed regions, a digital camera was fitted in front of the tractor. The images taken using the camera were then simultaneously processed using an algorithm written in MatlabTM software. The results of the field study showed that at 4, 6 and 8 km h-1 forward speeds, application volumes decrease by 30.21%, 28.82% and 32.28%, respectively, when it is compared to the conventional application methods. It was also determined that the application accuracy rates were 80%, 81.66% and 75% respectively for 4, 6 and 8 km h-1 speeds.

Keywords

• patch spraying
• weed detection
• spraying application
• image processing