Trial Type
Plant Health (Growth Regulators, Biologicals, etc.), Medium Yield
General Stats
Soil Stats
Methodology
This experimental field was in Edmund County, South Dakota. Soybeans were planted in 30-inch rows in strips on June 1, 2021. The purpose of this experiment is to compare the effects of Sugar treatment against no sugar treatment. Sugar was applied in furrow during soybean planting in 80 feet wide strip. This experiment had 3 replications for sugar treatment and 3 replications for no sugar treatment. UAV data was collected using Fix-wing AgEagle UAV having Gopro sensor with 4 different band information. To determine the canopy coverage and plant density, UAV data was collected during the early germination period i.e., June 22, 2021. UAV data collected during late growth phase of soybean crop i.e., August 13, 2021, was used to determine the difference due to treatments. NIR band and green band reflectance was used to calculate GNDVI of the field. GNDVI value ranges from -1 to 1. Higher the GNDVI values during early growth phase represent higher plant density and higher canopy coverage. Similarly higher GNDVI during later growing phase represent better plant heath and yield.
Results
Overall Sugar application decreased yield by 10.7 bu/ac which was statistically significant (Figure 1 & Table 1). All 3 replications saw decrease in yield. GNDVI map created using UAV data did not saw significant difference in the sugar applied and not applied strips during the early germination stage of soybean (Table 2). The GNDVI comparison from the late season UAV image was numerically greater in no sugar applied strips compared to sugar applied which matches with yield as well (Table 3). More research at multiple sites with more replications are required to better explain the contrast between two different treatments in different environmental condition.
