3D-Mosaic in brief
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ERA-Net ICT-Agri transnational project
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Coordination: Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim
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Funding: Ministries and Agencies from participating partner countries; funding sum 890 T Euro
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Duration: 05/2011 - 04/2013
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Partners: 11 partners from 7 countries (EU member and AC)
In
the context of current global changes, assuring the supply
of fresh produce and increasing economic viability are priority
targets within plantation management.
In the cultivation of tree crops, water is a critical input
factor and irrigation is necessary in all European countries. As a
matter of fact, input requirements in an orchard vary in space and
time due to the variability of climate, soil and plant growth.
Spatial patterns of soil and plant properties can be regarded as
a 3D-Mosaic. Thus, an optimum orchard management has to
address seasonal and spatial variability in soil and micro-climate
that affect plant growth and fruit development. However, irrigation
today is commonly managed at the orchard level and not at the tree
level. Uniform irrigation frequently creates sub-optimum conditions
with some parts of the orchard having insufficient water while other
parts suffer from water logging and subsequent oxygen shortage.
Consequently, water is wasted
and/or yield and fruit quality are
reduced. Tree-scale leaf area index and fruit load and individual
fruit-scale size, water content, and maturity-related pigmentation
represent information vital for orchard management resp. irrigation
decision making. Until now, these parameters have been underutilized
due to lack of automation of their monitoring.
The target of 3D-Mosaic is to promote precision management of
orchards by means of a decision support system (DSS) aiming to
optimize efficiency of inputs including water and to diminish the
environmental footprint of fruit production. The DSS will apply
information and communication technologies (ICT) for precision
management of the most economically relevant tree crops, apple and
citrus.