A novel non-destructive solution to quantify and qualify potato crops during growth to realise maximum marketable yield and help to reduce waste - TUBERSCAN

确定正确的马铃薯收获日期是马铃薯种植者必须做出的最关键的决定之一。如果他们提得太早，土豆可能会低于最优大小，导致产量低于最大潜在产量；如果他们提得太晚，土豆可能太大，无法满足买家的规格，从而使其大幅贬值。无论哪种方式，种植者都会失去潜在的收入。哈珀·亚当斯大学(HAU)最近进行的研究表明，使用新技术非侵入性地测量土壤中马铃薯块茎的总生物量是可能的。该大学正在进行的其他研究也表明，很有可能对马铃薯植株的图像进行处理，以准确确定每株马铃薯植株将产生的块茎数量。该项目的目的是开发和测试一种创新的原型系统，以测量和绘制整个田地的马铃薯平均大小和马铃薯生物量。这将使早期干预和/或选择性收获得以进行，从而优化作物产量和资源利用。预计这项技术可以在几乎没有额外成本的情况下，使英国适销对路的马铃薯产量增加约5%-10%，同时帮助减少整个供应链中的浪费。

Determining the correct date on which to harvest potatoes is one of the most critical decisions potato growers must make. If they lift their potatoes too early, they may be below the optimum size resulting in less than the maximum potential output being produced, if they lift them too late, they may be too large to meet buyer specifications significantly devaluing them. Either way the grower loses potential income. Recent research carried out at Harper Adams University (HAU) has shown that it is possible to use new technologies to non-invasively measure the total biomass of potato tubers in the soil. Other ongoing research at the university has also shown that it could well be possible to process images of potato plants to accurately determine the number of tubers each potato plant will produce. The aim of this project is to develop and test an innovative prototype system to measure and map average potato sizes and potato biomass throughout fields. This will enable early interventions and/or selective harvesting to take place, thereby optimising crop yield and resource use. It is anticipated that this technology could generate an estimated 5 - 10% increase in UK marketable potato production at little or no extra cost, whilst assisting with reducing waste throughout the supply chain.