RESEARCH ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 33 (4) December 2021, p. 620-642

MAPPING THE NITROGEN STATUS ON IMMATURE OIL PALM AREA IN MALAYSIAN OIL PALM PLANTATION WITH AUTOPILOT TRACTOR-MOUNTED ACTIVE LIGHT SENSOR

ROHAIDA MOHAMMAD*; DARIUS EL PEBRIAN*; MOHAMMAD ANAS AZMI* and EZRIN MOHD HUSIN**

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2021.0012
Received: 22 July 2020   Accepted: 26 January 2021   Published Online: 7 April 2021
ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to identify and visualise spatially the Nitrogen (N) status on immature oil palm area with an autopilot tractor-mounted active light sensor (ALS) in a Malaysian oil palm plantation. All the measurements taken by the ALS were assessed ‘on-the-go’ at every second while the tractor was moving on the field with autopilot steering mode. The N status was analysed based on 46% of the N content in urea and 40 kg ha–1 N application rate for a standard fertiliser requirement for immature oil palm. The ordinary kriging method was used to produce the interpolated maps of the N status by means of the ArcGIS 10.3 software. It was found that mean N-as applied rate per hectare read by the sensor was 1.62% lower than the recommended one. By showing such very small difference in mean rates, generally, the system showed its effectiveness in monitoring N status on immature oil palm. The interpolated maps also successfully displayed spatial variability of the N status on immature oil palm area, which are useable for reference in applying variable rate application (VRA) to economise the use of fertiliser on the said crop.

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1 Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology,
Universiti Teknologi MARA Melaka,
77300 Jasin Campus, Merlimau, Melaka, Malaysia.

2 Smart Farming Technology Research Center,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: darius@uitm.edu.my