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DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED ON-THE-GO SOIL NITRATE MONITORING SYSTEM
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1999
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Soil PropertyBiogeochemistryPrecision AgricultureEnvironmental MonitoringEnvironmental ChemistrySoil Nitrate LevelsEngineeringEnvironmental EngineeringSoil ScienceSoil ChemistrySoil FunctionEnvironmental RemediationNitrateion Selective ElectrodeNitrate Concentration
An automated, on-the-go, soil nitrate monitoring system (NMS) was built and tested, making use of a nitrateion selective electrode which offers a convenient and quick method for in-field soil nitrate measurement. The systemconsists of a soil sampler which collects a representative soil sample at regular intervals, a soil metering and conveyingunit which meters a known amount of soil into an extraction unit, a nitrate extraction unit, which extracts the soil nitrateusing deionized water, and analyzes for nitrate using an Orion nitrate ion selective electrode(ISE), and an electroniccontrol unit that measures nitrate concentration and provides the control signals to operate the system. The overalloperation of the system was controlled using a Micromint BCC52 computer. A field calibration process was used to enableprediction of soil nitrate levels within 10 s after soil sampling. Results from lab testing indicate that for a silty clay loamsoil, the actual, or final nitrate level could be predicted with 95% accuracy after 6 s of measurement.