Irrigation plays a crucial role in maize cultivation, as watering is essential for optimizing crop yield and quality, particularly given maize’s sensitivity to soil moisture variations. In the current study, a hybrid Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) approach is presented aiming to predict irrigation scheduling in maize fields in Bursa, Turkey. A critical aspect of the study was the use of the Aquacrop 7.0 model to simulate soil moisture content (MC) data due to data limitations in the investigated fields. This simulation model, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), helped overcome gaps in soil sensor data, enhancing the LSTM model’s predictions. The LSTM model was trained and tuned using a combination of soil, weather, and satellite-based plant vegetation data in order to predict soil moisture content (MC) reductions. The study’s results indicated that the LSTM model, supported by Aquacrop 7.0 simulations, was effective in predicting MC reduction across various time phases of the maize growing season, attaining R² values ranging from 0.8163 to 0.9181 for Field 1 and from 0.7602 to 0.8417 for Field 2, demonstrating the potential of this approach for precise and efficient agricultural irrigation practices.

This study aimed to simulate dynamic irrigation management zones (MZs) in two maize fields for a variable rate hose reel fertigation machine (VRFM) with a four-section boom control. Soil moisture content was measured from nine and four soil moisture sensors in Field 1 (8.2 ha) and Field 2 (2.5 ha), respectively, on different dates during the 2022 crop season. Three and five MZs scenarios were simulated per irrigation and the theoretical maps were processed for implementation. The application maps fitted to the VRFM showed significant spatiotemporal variations in irrigation requirements. For instance, in Field 1, 3-MZ modelling showed that the areas requiring high (H), medium (M), and low (L)-level irrigation on 21 July were 1.60, 4.84, and 1.85 ha, respectively, even though the farmer applied uniform rate over the whole field. H-level sub-areas ranged between 1.22 ha (25 July) and 3.25 ha (7 July), showing a coefficient of variation (CV) of 43.32% for the three MZs, whereas H-level sub-areas for the five MZs varied from 0.41 ha (2 July) to 1.49 ha (7 July) with a CV value of 48.84%. High levels of within-field variability can be addressed using precise and dynamic irrigation MZs fitted to the irrigation technology used.

Satellite remote sensing (RS) enables the extraction of vital information on land cover and crop type. Land cover and crop type classification using RS data and machine learning (ML) techniques have recently gained considerable attention in the scientific community. This study aimed to enhance remote sensing research using high-resolution satellite imagery and a ML approach. To achieve this objective, ML algorithms were employed to demonstrate whether it was possible to accurately classify various crop types within agricultural areas using the Sentinel 2A-derived Normalized Difference Red Edge Index (NDRE). Five ML classifiers, namely Support Vector Machines (SVM), Random Forest (RF), Decision Tree (DT), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), were implemented using Python programming on Google Colaboratory. The target land cover classes included cereals, fallow, forage, fruits, grassland-pasture, legumes, maize, sugar beet, onion-garlic, sunflower, and watermelon-melon. The classification models exhibited strong performance, evidenced by their robust overall accuracy (OA). The RF model outperformed, with an OA rate of 95% and a Kappa score of 92%. It was followed by DT (88%), KNN (87%), SVM (85%), and MLP (82%). These findings showed the possibility of achieving high classification accuracy using NDRE from a few Sentinel 2A images. This study demonstrated the potential enhancement of the application of high-resolution satellite RS data and ML for crop type classification in regions that have received less attention in previous studies.

This study aimed to simulate dynamic irrigation management zones (MZs) in two maize fields for a variable rate hose-reel fertigation machine (VRFM) with a 4-section boom control. Soil moisture content was measured from nine and four soil moisture sensors in Field 1 (8.2 ha) and Field 2 (2.5 ha), respectively in different dates during the 2022 crop season. Three- and five-MZs scenarios were simulated per irrigation and the theoretical maps were processed for implementation. The application maps fitted to the VRFM showed significant spatiotemporal variations in irrigation requirements. For instance, in Field 1, 3-MZs modelling showed that the areas requiring High (H), Medium (M), and Low (L) level irrigation on July 21 were 1.60, 4.84, and 1.85 ha, respectively, whereas the farmer applied uniform rate over the whole field. H level sub-areas ranged between 1.22 ha (July 25) and 3.25 ha (July 7), showing a coefficient of variation (CV) of 43.32% for the 3-MZs, whereas H level sub-areas for 5-MZs varied from 0.41 ha (July 2) to 1.49 ha (July 7) with a CV value of 48.84%. High levels of within-field variability can be addressed using precise and dynamic irrigation MZs fitted to the irrigation technology used.