Erich-Christian Oerke & Roland Gerhards 
Precision Crop Protection – the Challenge and Use of Heterogeneity 

Precision farming is an agricultural management system using global navigation satellite systems, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and data management systems for optimizing the use of nutrients, water, seed, pesticides and energy in heterogeneous field situations. This book provides extensive information on the state-of-the-art of research on precision crop protection and recent developments in site-specific application technologies for the management of weeds, arthropod pests, pathogens and nematodes. It gives the reader an up-to-date and in-depth review of both basic and applied research developments. The chapters discuss I) biology and epidemiology of pests, II) new sensor technologies, III) applications of multi-scale sensor systems, IV) sensor detection of pests in growing crops, V) spatial and non-spatial data management, VI) impact of pest heterogeneity and VII) precise mechanical and chemical pest control.

Table of Content

Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity of Crops, Pests, Diseases and Weeds – Causes and Implications.- Soil Heterogeneity and Crop Growth.- Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Weed Weeds Epidemiology Weeds Distribution Populations.- Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Plant Pathogens.- Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Arthropods Arthropods in Arable Fields.- Sensing and Sensor Technologies in Crop Protection.- The Use of Laboratory Spectroscopy and Optical Remote Sensing for Estimating Soil Properties.- Sensing of Photosynthetic Activity of Crops.- Remote Sensing for Precision Crop Protection – A Matter of Scale.- Detection and Identification of Weeds.- Detection of Fungal Diseases Optically and Pathogen Inoculum by Air Sampling.- Remote Sensing for the Detection of Soil-Borne Plant Parasitic Nematodes and Fungal Pathogens.- Potential of Digital Thermography Thermography for Disease Control.- Geographical Approaches for Integrated Pest Management Integrated Pest Management of Arthropods in Forestry Forestry and Row Crops.- Modelling and Decision Support Systems.- Spatial Data Handling and Management.- Decision Rules for Site-Specific Weed Management.- Modelling Plant Diseases Modelling Plant Diseases for Decision Making in Crop Protection.- Model Validation and Use of Geographic Information Systems in Crop Protection Warning Service.- Application Technologies for Site-Specific Crop Protection.- Mechanical Weed Control Mechanical weed control .- Direct Injection Direct Injection Sprayer.- Delivery Optimization for Pesticides Pesticides .- Autonomous Systems Autonomous Systems for Plant Protection.- Variable Rate Technology for Herbicide Applicationherbicide application .- Variable Rate Application Variable rate application of Fungicides.- Current Use of Precision Crop Protection in Practice.- Providing Precision Crop and Range Protection in the US Northern Great Plains.- Site-Specific Detection and Management of Nematodes.- Precision Disease Control in Bed-Grown Crops.- Economic Evaluation of Precision Crop Protection Measures.