Laboratory of Farm Mechanization
Department of Agriculture, Crop Production and Rural Environment
University of Thessaly

Contact by mail
Expertise: The lab is working in precision agriculture applications for the last 12 years. Initial applications in cotton and since 2005 in apples (six years, four orchards), vines (four years), olives (four years) and pears (two years). Yield and quality mapping, NDVI mapping, flowers mapping, soil properties mapping, prunings mapping, elevation maps, soil water content. Data were analysed and management zones were delineated using fuzzy clustering methods (MZA and FuzME). In some of the apples data multivariate analysis was applied successfully. Fuzzy cognitive maps were developed in data for cotton with encouraging results. Meteorological data analysis were used to explain temporal variability of cotton. Based on the collected and analysed data variable rate fertiliser and water applications were proposed. Variable rae in line fertiliser application equipment is under development to be used for the application. A feasibility study of variable rate water application suggested a possible water and energy saving in the B.ack Sea area. One wireless system with soil water content sensors was developed and used. At the moment we intent to modify drip irrigation networks to achieve VRI. Facility: The lab of Farm Mechanisation has the basic equipment to carry out the experiments as follows: RTK-GPS, DGPS, balances and charts for yield mapping of handpicked fruits, infrastructure for fruit quality (colour, flesh penetration resistance, brix, pH, anthocyans, remote sensing equipment (circle, multispectral camera, thermal camera), soil water sensors, EM 38. Priority: He is working for the last fourty years in farm mechanisation topics including soil tillage, crop harvesting (sugar beet harvesting), energy crops and biomass harvesting, precision agriculture in cotton, apples, vines and olives, farm machinery management.