The University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) is developing a smart irrigation project, which can help save up to 50% of water, specifically in the irrigation of vineyards, in the Douro Demarcated Region.
Climate change has shown that available water resources are increasingly scarce, which requires greater efficiency in their use, specifically in the irrigation of agricultural crops.
The UTAD, in Vila Real, is working in the viticulture sector, within the framework of a European project that involves other countries (Italy, Spain, France and Morocco) and other agricultural cultures, and the vine is not common to the african nation.
The project is called DATI, which stands for Digital Technologies for Efficient Irrigation in Agriculture in Portuguese. It is in the middle of four years of development and is funded by the European Commission.
The UTAD professor and researcher, Joaquim João Sousa, points out that the objective is to try to solve the problem of water scarcity, studying in the field how “by maintaining the production and quality of the grapes, water consumption can be reduced “.
DATI uses “new low-cost technologies” so that, in a “quick, efficient and intuitive” way, the farmer can know “what type of water application should be carried out on his crop”. In other words, “you don’t have to process anything, or have large equipment to receive information and know how many liters of water you should use.” According to the researcher, “it will be enough to use the mobile phone to know, on a given day, how much water to apply.” The recommended irrigation will always be “deficit”, to see if “with 50% of the usual” the objective is reached.
Information about water needs is being captured by inexpensive sensors attached to some vines. “What we do is, having several plots with different amounts of water, study the impact of reducing irrigation on the plants,” explains Raúl Morais, another UTAD researcher involved in the project. The data collected by the sensors is then supplemented by thermal images collected with the help of drones.
If within two years the UTAD researchers demonstrate that it is possible to guarantee the same quantity and quality of production in the vineyard, using half the water for irrigation, the DATI objective will have been achieved.
Source: TSF
