A gadget that tells farmers how much urea to use on crops :

The Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) has developed a gadget to detect nitrogen intake by crops to enable farmers to use urea as required.

Called Express Nitrogen Guru (ENG), the sensor-based equipment accurately measures the nitrogen content in leaves and immediately prompts the farmer by a voice message the exact quantity of nitrogen (urea) needed. Currently in prototype stage, the gadget is said to be duly unveiled by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the forthcoming Agrovision farm expo here.

Farmers tend to use urea in excess, which leads to excessive vegetation. The leafy growth attracts many varieties of pests, including sucking pest and white fly, causing considerable damage. “The country pays heavily to subsidise urea to farmers, with the subsidy bill going up to Rs 1.25 lakh crore annually. The new gadget can help farmers use urea economically,” CICR Director Keshav Kranthi told The Indian Express.

“The gadget would be of great use to wheat, rice and cotton farmers, who use urea the most. Urea use in cotton itself has gone up from 98 kg/ha/season 10 years ago to 22 kg/ha/season,” Kranthi said.

Currently, the Indian Agriculture Research Institute at Pusa has an equipment, Pusa soil test kit, which tests soil samples to determine the nutrient contents. “But different parts of the farm may have different nitrogen content. 

So, the Pusa kit has to check samples from different parts. But ENG takes a step ahead to check the actual intake of nitrogen by the plant. Moreover, it’s hand-held and is hence easy to carry,” Kranthi said. “We have checked the results chemically in laboratory and they were found it to be precise.”

ENG has been developed by a young engineering graduate, Abhijit Majumdar, son of CICR scientist Gautam Majumdar. “The prototype takes photo of the leaf and using the shade card (as per the leaf’s colour) integrated in it measures the nitrogen content. Using a mathematical programme, it prompts through a voice message how much urea is needed by the plant,” Majumdar said. “When produced on a large scale, it could cost less than Rs 8,000,” he added.

Source : Indian Express