SPIDAP
Development of a digital platform based on artificial intelligence for precision citrus farming
Scheda del progetto
Agrigeos srl
Lualtek srl
The SPIDAP project aims to implement an innovative decision support system for citrus growers based on advanced sensors that consider the hydrological conditions of the soil and the health status of the plants, leveraging the high-throughput phenotyping system Plantarray and the in vivo sensor Bioristor, which can continuously and real-time monitor the plants' needs. SPIDAP is a concrete response to the productive realities of the area, aimed at increasing the efficiency of irrigation water use while ensuring abundant and high-quality production.
Contacts:
Salvatore Timpanaro
timpanaro@agrigeos.com
Citrus production in Sicily, a land characterized by a hot-arid environment, requires significant amounts of water. This exposes crops, especially in summer, to a prolonged water deficit that can severely hinder plant development, leading to reduced agricultural yields and lower quality of the fruits. The challenge lies in providing citrus plants with the exact amount of water they need.
Decision Support Systems (DSS) dedicated to managing irrigation resources in agriculture are fundamentally based on the collection of meteorological data. SPIDAP aims to develop a decision support system (DSS) based on data collected from Bioristor, an electrochemical biosensor developed by IMEM-CNR in Parma, which acts "in vivo" providing real-time and continuous information on the health status of the plant. Additionally, thanks to LoRaWAN technology, it will be possible to use the DSS in rural areas where Internet coverage is a limiting factor.
The DSS developed within the SPIDAP project will enable citrus growers to optimize resource use, anticipate problems, and obtain more accurate forecasts on crop development, facilitating the planning and management of agricultural practices with benefits in terms of time and costs.