Modification of colorimetric method based digital soil test kit for determination of macronutrients in oil palm plantation

Authors

  • Muhammad Yamin 1. Department of Farm Machinery & Power, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (38040) Pakistan; 2. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Wan Ishak bin Wan Ismail 2. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Muhamad Saufi bin Mohd Kassim 2. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Samsuzana Binti Abd Aziz 2. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Farah Naz Akbar 3. Department of Allied Health Sciences, Sargodha Medical College, University of Sargodha (40100) Pakistan
  • Redmond R. Shamshiri 4. Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam-Bornim, Germany
  • Muhammad Ibrahim 5. Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad (38000) Pakistan
  • Benjamin Mahns 4. Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam-Bornim, Germany

Keywords:

digital soil test kit, variable rate fertilizer applicator, oil palm, NPK measurement, data acquisition system, colorimetric method

Abstract

It is the need of time that oil palm farmers must perform the spatially planned soil analysis to know about the fertilizer sufficient and deficient zones of land. Colorimetric method is a suitable and fast solution of soil analysis for NPK determination using the digital soil test kit. NPK determination procedure with a digital soil test kit was undefined for oil palm. Furthermore, the digital soil test kit determines the passage of light through an opaque medium of soil solution with a specified reagent. Therefore, environmental light may interfere leading to wrong results of NPK measurement. Likewise, this equipment was non-incorporable with the controller of any VRT fertilizer applicator. In this research, these issues were addressed and the NPK measurement procedure was defined for oil palm plantation by modifying the ‘soil to water’ ratio in sample soil solution with an optimum environmental light range of 18-23 W/m2. ‘Soil to water’ ratios were found for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as 0.31 to 5.00, 1.00 to 5.00 and 4.50 to 5.00, respectively to fit the requirement of NPK for oil palm in the prescribed range of the equipment. Validation study of modified digital soil test kit showed that 91.7% N, 89.6% P and 93.8% K results of modified digital soil test kit were matched with analytical laboratory method. Thus, the reliability of NPK results using digital soil test kit was enhanced, making the kit incorporable with the controller of variable rate fertilizer applicator through remote monitoring based data acquisition system. The outcome of this research can be used in the development of an IoT network data fusion for dynamic assessment of the NPK variation in the soil and nutrient management in oil palm plantations. Keywords: digital soil test kit, variable rate fertilizer applicator, oil palm, NPK measurement, data acquisition system, colorimetric method DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20201304.5694 Citation: Yamin M, Ismail W I W, Kassim M S M, Aziz S B A, Akbar F N, Shamshiri R R, et al. Modification of colorimetric method based digital soil test kit for determination of macronutrients in oil palm plantation. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2020; 13(4): 188–197.

Author Biography

Redmond R. Shamshiri, 4. Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam-Bornim, Germany

Dr. Redmond R. Shamshir is the director of Adaptive AgroTech Research Group International, founded in 2008 at the University of Florida. He has studies two Ph.D. programs in Simulation/modeling and in Biosystem Eng, two M.Sc in Agricultural and smart farming Eng, and a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Florida, University of Putra Malaysia and Avicenna University. Dr. Shamshiri has carried out collaboration and Post-doctoral research at Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands, and the University of Putra Malaysia. He is the recipient of 2016 prestigious fellowship from the Canadian Minister of Education & Training for his proposal on Rehabilitation Robot for Human Knee Joint via Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation. His has been involved in various applied control and dynamic projects including precision agriculture, modern greenhouse technology, robotics harvesting, disease detection, UAV, and farm machinery design and development. He is an editor member of several international journals and member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering since 2007. He is currently working on Autonomous tractor projects in Germany. He can be contacted at director@adaptiveagrotech.com

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Published

2020-08-07

How to Cite

Yamin, M., Ismail, W. I. bin W., Kassim, M. S. bin M., Aziz, S. B. A., Akbar, F. N., Shamshiri, R. R., … Mahns, B. (2020). Modification of colorimetric method based digital soil test kit for determination of macronutrients in oil palm plantation. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 13(4), 188–197. Retrieved from https://ijabe.migration.pkpps03.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/ijabe/article/view/5694

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 4 (2020): IJABE

Section

Information Technology, Sensors and Control Systems

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