Abstract
Soybean is a legume that is grown worldwide for its edible bean. Intra-row weeds greatly hinder the normal growth of soybeans. The continuous emergence of herbicide-resistant weeds and the increasing labor costs of weed control are affecting the profitability of growers. The existing cultivation technology cannot control the weeds in the crop row which are highly competitive with the soybean in early growth stages. There is an urgent need to develop an automated weeding technology for intra-row weed control. The prerequisite for performing weeding operations is to accurately determine the plant location in the field. The purpose of this study is to develop a plant localization technique based on systemic crop signalling to automatically detect the appearance of soybean. Rhodamine B (Rh-B) is a signalling compound with a unique fluorescent appearance. Different concentrations of Rh-B were applied to soybean based on seed treatment for various durations prior to planting. The potential impact of Rh-B on seedling growth in the outdoor environment was evaluated. Both 60 and 120 ppm of Rh-B were safe for soybean plants. Higher doses of Rh-B resulted in greater absorption. A three-dimensional plant localization algorithm was developed by analyzing the fluorescence images of multiple views of plants. The soybean location was successfully determined with the accuracy of 97%. The Rh-B in soybean plants successfully created a machine-sensible signal that can be used to enhance weed/crop differentiation, which is helpful for performing automatic weeding tasks in weeders.
Highlights
As an important source of high-quality protein, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fats and minerals, soybean is widely grown worldwide [1]
Compared with the control plant, the fluorescence of soybean treated with Rhodamine B (Rh-B) was mainly detected in the plant cotyledon (Figure 2)
Soybean plants treated with 120 ppm Rh-B showed stronger fluorescence signals at the beginning of germination than samples with lower doses, but the difference in signal intensity between samples decreased over time
Summary
As an important source of high-quality protein, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fats and minerals, soybean is widely grown worldwide [1]. Weed damage is one of the main biological disasters that affect soybean yield, while the intra-row weeds are more harmful to the crop [2]. There are many types of common weeds in soybean fields, including gramineous weeds (e.g., crabgrass, goose grass, barnyard grass) and broadleaf weeds (e.g., purslane, cocklebur, dayflower, iron amaranth, quinoa) [3,4,5]. High-density weeds growing together are difficult to distinguish. These weeds that grow synchronously with soybeans compete with them for resources such as sunlight, nutrients and water, making them vulnerable to pests and diseases [6]. The number of weeds in the field accounts for about 95.00% of the total within 3 weeks of soybean sowing [7]
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