Step 11: Crop measurements

In a crop measurement, three plants are removed from the soil per measurement. The following factors are measured for the aboveground parts of the plant: the foliage length, the number of stems and the number of leaf levels. Below is shown what is measured.

A measurement with the Dual-ex hand sensor and a leaf juice measurement are also carried out on the second floor. The Dual-ex measures the amount of flavonoids together with the leaf temperature and the GPS position. The photo below shows the Dual-ex hand sensor. Photo 2 is the collection of petioles to measure nitrate afterwards.

   
Photo 1: Dual-ex hand sensor                                                                          Photo 2: Leaf sap measurements

Flavonoid is a plant substance consisting of chemical compounds that destroy free radicals (Buijs, 2015). In addition, Flavonoid are responsible for the bright color of the potato tops. Then leaf is picked manually to perform {leaf juice analyzes} later. The tubers are taken to be sorted at home and to measure the {underwater weight}. Crop measurements are taken every two weeks after closing the crop. Growth models are drawn up on the basis of these measurements. With growth models, different cultivation actions can be devised / adjusted in the future to achieve an optimal yield. Below in the photo the process of is shown.





Smartgrader
The smartgrader is a robot that takes over the sampling of the potato sample. This makes it much faster, with higher accuracy and the results are saved immediately. When using the smartgrader, it is possible to automatically analyze the potato sample taken for the following properties;

• Underwater weight
• Number of tubers per plant
• Size sorting
• Length