In coming years, precision horticulture may help the Indian farmer to harvest the fruits of frontier technology without compromising the quality of land and produce. In the overall perspective, with the introduction and adoption of modern technologies, agriculture sector is expected to achieve a vertical growth.

1. Dr. T. Shanmugasundaram, Ph.D.
Teaching Assistant (Horticulture)
Horticultural College and Research Institute
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641 003

2. Precision farming
Application of technologies and principles to manage spatial
and temporal Variability associated with all aspects of
Horticulture production.
Also referred to as
Hi tech Farming
Variable rate of application farming
Site specific farming
Prescription farming etc.

3. Comparison with Traditional Agriculture
• Precision farming distinguishes from traditional agriculture
by its level of management.
• Instead of management the whole field as a single unit,
management is customized for small area with in the fields
(Micro management concepts)
• Manages every field operation at each location in the field,
if it is technically or economically advantageous to
manage at that level.

4. • Information
• Technology
Key aspects
• Management
•Take care of each and every plant in a farmers field
throughout the crop cycle
•Technology enabled, Information based and decision
focused

5. Precision farming
(Modern Eco friendly technology)
Reduce stress
on natural
resources
Leads to total
quality
management

6. Five rules of precision farming
Right time
Right place
Right amount
Right
source
Right
Manner

7. Precision farming – outcomes
• Increased profit and sustainability
• Improved product quality
• Effective and efficient pest management
• Energy, Water and soil conservation
• Surface and ground water protection

8. Technologies of precision farming
• Computer system
• Smartphone applications
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Remote sensing
• Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Variable Rate Technology (VRT)
• Yield monitoring
• Yield mapping

9. Computer system
• Computers - Precision farming in terms of management
strategy that uses information technologies for decision
making.
• It is acquisition, management, analysis and output of large
amount of spatial and temporal data.
• Computer software in precision agriculture has become
better with time.

10. Smart phone applications
• Smart phone and tablet applications are becoming
increasingly popular in PH.
• Smart phones come with many useful applications already
installed, including the camera, microphone, GPS, and
accelerometer.
• Applications - Field mapping, tracking animals, obtaining
weather and crop information.
• Easily portable and affordable

11. Global Positioning System (GPS)
• GPS are important to find out the exact location in
the field to assess the spatial variability and site
specific application of inputs.

12. Remote sensing
• Remote sensing is a tool for collection, processing and
analysis of data to exact information from earth surface
without coming in to physical contact with it.
• It holds great promise for precision agriculture because
it is potential for monitoring spatial variability over time
at high resolution.

13. Geographic Information System (GIS)
• GIS - brain of precision farming.
• GIS - computation, storage, analysis and display of
spatial data in the form of a map.
GIS helps in two ways:
• One is in linking and integrating GIS data (soil, crop,
weather, field history etc.)
• Another is to support the engineering component
for designing implement and GPS guided machines.

14. Variable Rate Technology (VRT)
• VRT consists of precisely control the rate of
application of crop inputs commonly include
fertilizer, weed control, insect control, plant
population and irrigation.
• VRT optimize the input or maximize the crop
yield from a given quantum of unit.

15. Yield monitoring
• Crop yield measuring devices installed in
harvesting equipment.
• The yield data from the monitor is recorded and
stored at regular interval along with positional
data revised from the GIS unit.
• GIS software takes the yield data and produce
yield map.

16. Yield mapping
• Mapping of yield and correlation of that map
with the spatial and temporal variability of
different agronomic parameters helps in
development of next season crop
management strategy.

17. Application of precision farming
• Controlled environment structure
• Water management , Micro irrigation & Fertigation
• Surface covered cultivation
• Organic farming
• Plastic mulching
• Precise space utilization
• Micro propagation / tissue culture
• Integrated pest and Disease Management

18. Protected nursery (Hi-tech community nursery)
• The seedlings of vegetables are raised in a shade
net house. Nursery area of 3 cents with slanting
slope of 2% is required for the seedlings production
to cover 1 ha.
• The nursery area is covered with 50 per cent shade
net and the sides are covered using 40/50 mesh
insect proof.

19. Protrays
• The protrays of 98 cells (54 x 27cm) of 3.5 cm
diameter and 0.8mm thickness is normally used
and is ideal for seedling production.

20. Automated Protray filling and seeding machine

23. Net Houses
• Finer mesh nets with smaller size holes can be
used for plant protection against insects.
Select net of 32- mesh size (32 holes per inch
or hole size 0.8 mm), uniformly weaved,
durable quality
• Nylon netting is mostly preferred to control
diamond back moth, striped flea beetle, leaf
miners and aphids.

26. Growing medium
• Cocopeat is an artificial soil-less media, which is used for
the production of a healthy and vigorous seedling
production.
• The sterilized cocopeat @ 300 Kg/ha is mixed with 5 Kg of
neem cake along with Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria
each @1 Kg. Approximately 1.2 Kg of the cocopeat medium
is filled in each protray.

27. Seed treatment
Treated and Untreated seeds

28. Seed treatment for vegetable crops
S.No. Name of
the crop
Pest/Disease Seed treatment Remarks
1. Tomato Soil borne
infection of
fungal disease
Early blight
damping off
and wilt
Trichoderma
asperellum @ 2g/100g
seed.
Captan 75 WS @ 1.5
to 2.0 gm a.i./litre for
soil drenching. Bacillus
subtitles 10g/kg as
seed dresser.
For seed
dressing metal
seed dresser
/earthern pots
or polythene
bags are used.

29. S.No. Name of the
crop
Pest/Disease Seed treatment Remarks
2. Bhendi Root knot
nematode
Bacillus subtitles @
10 g/kg as seed
dresser.
For seed
dressing
earthern pots
or polythene
bags are
used.
3. Chillies Anthracnose
spp.
Damping off
Seed treatment with
Trichoderma
asperellum 4g/kg,
Carbendazim @
1g/100 g seed.
-do-
4. Brinjal Bacterial wilt Bacillus subtitles @
10g/kg.
-do-

30. S.No. Name of the
crop
Pest/Disease Seed
treatment
Remarks
5. Leguminous
Vegetables
Soil borne
infection
Nematode
Trichoderma
asperellum @ 2
g/100g
-do-
6. Cruciferous
vegetables
(Cabbage,
Cauliflower,
Broccoli, Knol-
khol, radish)
Soil /
Seed borne
diseases
(Damping off)
Root knot
nematode
Seed treatment
with Trichoderma
asperellum @ 2 g /
100 g seeds
Bacillus
subtitles and Verticil
lium @ 10g/kg seed
as seed dresser
-do-
7. Potato Soil and tuber
borne diseases
Seed treatment with
boric acid 3% for 20
minutes before
storage.
-do-

31. Seed treatment methods
A. Hot water treatment
B. Dry-heat treatment
C. Chemical and biological treatments
D. Radiation treatment
E. Seed dressing
F. Seed coating
(a) Film coating
(b) Seed pelleting
G. Priming

32. Sowing
• Sowing of seeds in protrays is done @ 1 seed per cell.
• The seeds are covered with cocopeat and the trays are
kept one above the other and covered with a polythene
sheet till germination starts.
• After 6 days, the germinated protrays are individually
placed on the raised beds inside the shade net.
• Watering is done by rose can everyday (twice/day) upto
seed germination.

33. Community Nursery Structures
Community Nursery Structures

34. Sowing of seeds

36. Drip Irrigation System
• Installation of drip system is done with main, sub-
main pipes and lateral tubes.
• The lateral tubes are placed at a particular interval
depending on the crop.
• 12 mm or 16 mm laterals are used for this purpose.
• The drippers in lateral tubes are placed at a
particular interval depending on the crop.

37. Water soluble fertilizer tank

38. Planting system and population maintenance
• The main field is ploughed with chisel and disc plough each one time
and cultivator plough twice.
• For annuals, 75% of the total recommended dose of SSP is applied as
basal dose along with required quantity of FYM. Azospirillum and
Phospho bacteria each @ 2 Kg / ha along with FYM 50 Kg and neem
cake 100 Kg are applied before last ploughing.
• Raised beds of 120 cm width are formed at an interval of 30 cm and
the laterals are placed at the centre of each bed.
• For perennials, pits are dug at a particular distance and laterals are
laid.

39. Chisel ploughing
Ensure better aeration to root zone
Effective drainage during rainy days
Needs to be operated once in two years

40. Last ploughing for planting

41. Broad bed former

42. Planting
• For annuals, before planting, the beds are watered
using drip system for 8 to 12 hours.
• Pre-emergence weedicide spray of pendimethalin
(Stomp) is applied @1 Kg a.i. / ha just before
transplanting.
• The soil should be moist while spraying and high
volume sprayer is most efficient.
• Planting is done in single or paired row system
depending on the crop.
• For perennials, the planting material is planted in
pits.

43. Preparation of field

44. First wetting 8 -12 hours and subsequently 1 hour per day through
out the crop period

45. Chilli - Row planting

46. Constraints
Small farm size
Lack of success stories
Lack of local technical expertise
Heterogeneity of cropping systems and market
imperfections
Land ownership, infrastructure and institutional
constraints
Knowledge and technical gap
High cost of obtaining site specific data

47. Future thrust
• Formation of farmers co-operatives since many of
the precision agriculture tools are costly (GIS, GPS,
RS etc.).
• Creating awareness among the farmer about
consequences of applying imbalanced doses of
farm inputs like irrigation, fertilizers, insecticides
and pesticides.

48. Conclusion
• In coming years, precision horticulture may help
the Indian farmer to harvest the fruits of frontier
technology without compromising the quality of
land and produce. In the overall perspective,
with the introduction and adoption of modern
technologies, agriculture sector is expected to
achieve a vertical growth.

49. Thank you..