Optimizing Top Dressing Nitrogen Fertilization Using VENμS and Sentinel-2 L1 Data

Abstract

Environmental and economic constraints are forcing farmers to be more precise in the rates and timing of nitrogen (N) fertilizer application to wheat. In practice, N is frequently applied without knowledge of the precise amount needed or the likelihood of significant protein enhancement. The objective of this study was to help farmers optimize top dress N application by adopting the use of within-field reference N strips. We developed an assisting app on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to map the spatial variability of four different vegetation indices (VIs) in each field by calculating the mean VI, masking extreme values (three standard deviations, 3σ) of each field, and presenting the anomaly as a deviation of ±σ and ±2σ or deviation of percentage. VIs based on red-edge bands (REIP, NDRE, ICCI) were very useful for the detection of wheat above ground N uptake and in-field anomalies. VENµS high temporal and spatial resolutions provide advantages over Sentinel-2 in monitoring agricultural fields during the growing season, representing the within-field variations and for decision making, but the spatial coverage and accessibility of Sentinel-2 data are much better. Sentinel-2 data is already available on the GEE platform and was found to be of much help for the farmers in optimizing topdressing N application to wheat, applying it only where it will increase grain yield and/or grain quality. Therefore, the GEE anomaly app can be used for top-N dressing application decisions. Nevertheless, there are some issues that must be tested, and more research is required. To conclude, satellite images can be used in the GEE platform for anomaly detection, rendering results within a few seconds. The ability to use L1 VENµS or Sentinel-2 data without atmospheric correction through GEE opens the opportunity to use these data for several applications by farmers and others.