Digest intelligent Fertirrigation of the III Congress of Bone fruit in Murcia

From Prakor we want to bring you closer to our particular and partial summary of the interesting Roundtable on Intelligent Fertirrigation held at the III Congress of Bone fruit. We hope you are interested…

The III National Congress of Bone Fruit held in Murcia on March 6, offered us a current view of the current situation and how innovation and technology allow to increase productivity and lower costs in a sustainable way.

The day was organized by thematic tables, with the best national experts in production of bone fruit that were contributing their vision and their valuable experiences to all attendees.

The Prakor team attended the Intelligent fertigation table, moderated by D. Juan José ALARCÓN (CSIC),and in which research centers and companies participated.

Contamination by agricultural nitrates

The first speaker, Dr. Pedro Fernandez (CARM), exposes the role of nutrition in fruit trees in a framework of nitrate contamination.

It begins by exposing the problems that exist in Europe with water pollution by agricultural nitrates and existing legislative constraints, such as 50 mg of nitrates per litre in groundwater. In Spain, 21 of the aquifers are surpassed according to the ministry’s data.

In addition, in Murcia, law 1/2018 of urgent measures to guarantee the environmental sustainability of the Mar Menor, includes some actions, such as those listed in article 14. Prohibition of the use of high and potentially polluting soluble fertilizers.

Fertilizers prohibited in the scope of this law are:

• Are prohibited: ammonium nitrate, calcium nitrate and urea, and all those nitrogenous fertilizers, solid or liquid, obtained from any of them, unless they contain nitrification or urease inhibitors, as appropriate, according to RD 506/ 2013 of 28 June on fertiliser products or regulation (EC) 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 on fertilisers.
• Both EC and nitrogen fertilizers are prohibited, simple or compounds, such as those of group 1 containing nitrogen, of RD 506/2013, whose solubility, measured at 20 º, is greater than 1000 g/L, which do not contain nitrification or urease inhibitors, as appropriate, Pursuant to RD 506/2013 of 28 June, on fertiliser products or regulation (EC) 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 on fertilisers.

Wireless Sensors for irrigation agriculture

The next speaker, Mr. Samuel Lopez, of Plantae, talks about introducing their wireless technology into irrigation systems to increase their savings and optimization. These systems focused on agriculture, allow to configure a deficit irrigation in the crops, thus increasing the production. Its operation is simple:

• Wireless sensors are installed to automatically measure moisture at different depths.
• The information obtained is transferred to the management panel that sends via GPRS to the Web platform, in order to analyze and optimize the irrigation cycles, always adjusted to the type of soil and to the cultivation.
• Web Access to all data in real time from computer or via mobile to adapt the irrigation cycle and its frequency to the data obtained.

Drones as agricultural technology

The speaker Mr. José Javier Santiago, CEO of CONAPA (National company of Agricultural experts), is presented as pioneers in the implantation and use of drones in the agricultural and forestry sector, offering through its company Advanced services and products that are committed to contribute to the technological development of the sector.

In his talk, he explains:

• For the year 2050 an increase in food demand of 70 is expected.
• The challenge of all the companies in the sector is to produce more in a more sustainable way, from all the social, environmental and economic approaches,… And the goal is to maximize production costs.

Mr. Emilio Nicolás, BARLEY-CSIC, tells us about the sustainable management of regenerated water in the management of the fertigation of fruit crops.

Smart Irrigation Systems

Ms. María Jiménez, technical and commercial director of Hidrosoph In Spain, a company with more than 20 years of experience that offers global solutions for irrigation management adapted to each client, tells us about how through a correct advice on where, when and how much to water at all times, we can reach a greater Sustainability and profitability in our crops.

Bearing in mind that irrigation is the most important factor in the quality and quantity of production, the current objective of agricultural enterprises is:

• Increase productivity and production consistency
• Reduction in irrigation water consumption
• Reducing energy costs
• Fertilizer and phytosanitary Optimization

It has developed the Irristrat system, intelligent irrigation, which allows to monitor and design a suitable irrigation Plan for each farmer and parcel using harvest databases, soil, crop type, production charts, field experiences, meteorological image information, Dendrómetros, humidity probes, sensors, etc. to adjust the irrigation plan to each circumstance.