Plants Text Message
Farmers When Thirsty
By
Don Comis
USDA-ARS
April 30 , 2008 -
Beginning this crop season, farmers will be able to receive text
messages on their cell phones from their plants saying whether they
are thirsty or not.
An automated infrared sensor
system tells farmers when plants are thirsty or hotter than
their ideal growing temperature and need cooling off with
irrigation water. Photo courtesy of SmartCrop.
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Accent Engineering, Inc., of Lubbock, Tex.,
developed the SmartCropTM automated
drought monitoring system based on a patent held by the
Agricultural Research Service
(ARS). They are offering it for sale in time for this growing
season.
Battery-operated infrared thermometers placed in
irrigated fields monitor leaf temperatures and relay that
information to a computerized base station. A cell phone modem can
be hooked up to the base station to download data to a personal
computer. This modem can also send text messages to a farmer's cell
phone.
ARS plant physiologist
James Mahan at the ARS
Plant Stress and Germplasm Development Research Unit in Lubbock
is one of the original theorists of the idea behind SmartCrop. Each
plant species has a fairly narrow range of internal temperatures it
prefers for best growth. When leaf temperature goes above the upper
limit or threshold of that range for too long, the plant needs
water, as much for cooling down as to quench its thirst.
In
the Texas High Plains area, for example, Mahan found that cotton
begins to suffer from drought if cotton plant leaves stay above 82
degrees Fahrenheit for more than 6-1/2 hours. Farmers can choose the
time-temperature threshold at which they would like to receive an
alert, and adjust it at any time.
