The digital revolution is transforming agriculture by applying artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops which is susceptible to different varieties of weeds which not only lower its yield but also affect crop quality. Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision (CV) techniques have been proven to be state-of-the-art in terms of addressing various agricultural problems. In this study, a dataset of five different potato weeds was collected in different environments and under different climatic conditions such as sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, and at different times of the day on a weekly basis. For weeds-detection purposes, the Tiny-YOLOv4 model was trained on the collected potato weeds dataset. The proposed model obtained 49.4% mAP value by calculating the IoU. The model trained with high prediction accuracy will later be used as part of a site-specific spraying system to apply agrochemicals for weed management in potato crops.

The variability in soil properties and crop yield can be overcome by adoption of smart farming practices through interpolation and mapping of spatial variability patterns. Geospatial technologies can be utilized to determine the cause of spatial variability in fields for site-specific application of fertilizer. This study was designed to quantify and identify the spatial variation in soil properties and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield and to delineate prescription maps for precise application of fertilizer in a semi-arid subtropical region of Pakistan. To examine the variability in soil properties on the production of the considered crop, this study comprised two different fields and each field was divided into (20 × 20 m) grids. The samples of soil were collected at 15 cm and 30 cm soil depths before the fertilization to analyze the different soil characteristics i.e., nitrogen (N), electrical conductivity (EC), potassium (K), soil organic matter (SOM), phosphorus (P), and pH. The boundaries of selected fields and grid points were established with a real-time kinematics-global positioning system (RTK-GPS). The soil data were acquired with a soil proximal sensor at a depth of 7 cm after fertilization. The statistical analysis coefficient of variation (CV), geostatistical-analysis-nugget-to-sill ratio (N:S), and the interpolated maps (ArcGIS pro 2.3) were used to characterize the least to moderate variability of soil parameters and yield, demanding site-specific management of fertilizer application. Cluster analysis was conducted using Minitab 21, which classified soil and yield characteristics into five categories: “very good”, “very low”, “good”, “poor”, and “medium”, with an external heterogeneity and internal homogeneity both more than 60%. Significant relationships (p < 0.05) between soil and crop properties were used to develop the management zones (MZs) for the precise application of fertilizer in wheat fields. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in soil nutrients were found in the very high and very low productivity zones at both sampling times, which suggest delineating the MZs for precise application of fertilizer according to the need of crop and soil properties. The results revealed that the optimum number of MZs for the wheat fields was five and there was heterogeneity in the soil nutrients in five MZs. The findings of this study also highlight the necessity of predicting the crop and soil factors by using precision technologies to develop the prescription maps, because sampling and analysis of soil are expensive and time-consuming. Based on the demand of the soil and crops, site-specific fertilization can increase economic and environmental efficiency.

Smart-farming practices can help to overcome the impacts of soil and crop variability on crop yield. This article studies the impact of fertilization treatment on the production of a major oilseed crop, mustard (Brassica campestris L.), in an arid region of Pakistan. Soil-nutrient sampling was performed, using 20 × 20 m grids to characterize and quantify the variation of mustard yield and soil nutrients. Based on the results of a significant correlation between yield and soil nutrients, management zones (MZs) were developed that use Variable Rate Fertilization (VRF) to increase crop production and profitability while reducing environmental risk.

Identification and mapping of yield limiting factors of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) using proximal sensing and geostatistical techniques