Growers can now gain the nitrogen (N) nutrition status of a range of crops instantly following the launch of a unique smartphone app that aims to assist the most efficient application of fertilisers to maximise returns and protect the environment.
Croptune uses smartphone cameras to take leaf photos, which it uses to measure chlorophyll and provides both a plant N uptake and percentage-range reading for annual crops, as well as a percentage-range measurement for perennial crops.
Where the N percentage lands on an indicator bar that transitions from green to red for the selected annual crop suggests whether applications can be reduced or are required to achieve optimum nutrition and production, while the recommendation also includes a calculation of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) requirements.
In perennial crops, the percentage measurement allows growers to track the N nutrition status in real-time, and if necessary, adjust applications immediately rather than be delayed waiting for laboratory plant analysis results.
So far, the Croptune app has been calibrated for 18 crops, including wheat, cotton, corn, rice, tomato, potato, carrot, capsicum, lettuce, cucumber and onion annual field crops as well as banana, avocado, pear, peach, nectarine, clementine and cherry perennial orchard crops – with sugarcane expected to be added from the start of 2023.
Croptune product and agronomy manager Eldad Sokolowski, who travelled to Australia from Israel to launch the app with Haifa Group (which partnered its development), said calibration required a full season and hundreds of samples for each crop. It aligns laboratory N analysis with leaf greenness levels, which continually improves using artificial intelligence.
Sokolowski said currently there were about 40 greenness layers used for nitrogen measurement of each crop, with the aim to achieve more than 100 layers to further improve its accuracy.
“Currently the accuracy is 85–90pc with the laboratory results, which also are not perfectly accurate. We estimate labs have 90pc accuracy and indicate a single figure rather than a range, so the correlation is very close,” Mr Sokolowski said.
Growers also can target specific areas within whole paddocks or blocks with the app to help further fine-tune their nutrition management and, together with their agronomist or adviser, they can access a developing databank of the areas tested. In future, it could contribute to aerial N maps for paddocks or blocks.
For the N application recommendation as well as P and K calculation in annual crops, Mr Sokolowski said growers entered several details into the app, including the planting date and plant density. “From the age of the crop and the plants per area, the app knows what the N level should be at that time.”
He said one of the key aims was to allow growers to apply the minimum base fertiliser required upfront and then to use the app to understand the crop nutrition status and make applications accordingly.
“It depends how frequently fertiliser is applied, but with crops like potatoes during the critical part of the season, growers could check the nutrition once a week,” he said.
Use of the app in crop trials has shown a reduction in fertiliser application in potatoes of 40 kg/ha, resulting in 30pc increased nutrient use efficiency; in wheat the fertiliser saving was 35 kg/ha for 46pc higher nutrient use efficiency; and in carrots the same yields were achieved despite 20 kg/ha less fertiliser applied. The lower fertiliser applications also reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
Mr Sokolowski said the app was developed initially for the widest-grown crops in the world and the most popular varieties, however the list of crops would continue to grow, and work was ongoing to add further varieties.
It also will undergo accreditation for use to meet environmental regulations in Israel and this could pave the way for similar developments in Australia.
Haifa Australia managing director Trevor Dennis said the adoption of systems for sustainable agriculture was a key focus as part of the company’s commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the United Nations Global Compact initiative. The primary target with the app was to improve the efficient utilisation of fertilisers for growers and also the broader community and environment.
Mr Sokolowski said the Croptune app was suitable for use with a wide range of iPhone, Android and Google handsets. Default camera settings should be maintained while using the app, and photos taken via the app should be of leaves similar to those used for laboratory plant analysis. In areas with poor connectivity, the app can store the images for analysis later.
The Croptune app is available to growers and advisers via app stores, where users can annually subscribe to field crop or orchard crop versions based on the crop area it is to be used over.
Users can take advantage of a free trial with the app, before incurring a fee of around $20 per month. Availability through rural resellers also is being explored to make it as cost-effective as possible for users.
