Use of Information Technologies for Precision Crop Protection

Using herbicides in medicinal herbs is getting more and more difficult, because processing industry for medicinal products demands high raw material quality with low residues of plant protectans.
Mechanical and thermal weed regulation provides an alternative to conventional cultivation where just a few herbicides are licensed.
Intention of this project is to compare and improve established strategies as well as new maschines and instruments for interrow and intrarow weeding under economic aspects, especially by reducing manual work.
Therefore field trials are carried out since 2007 at Bonn University on three different experimental stations. Besides climatic, soil and crop rotation distinctions at the stations are water, nutrition and treatment under same conditions. Three important medicinal herbs in Germany Matricaria recutita `Bodegold`(chamomile), Valeriana officinalis `Artener Züchtung`(valerian) and Melissa officinalis `Citra`(lemon balm) are cultivated. They stay representative for blossom drug plants, root drug plants and leave drug plants were the essential oil is located. The characteristic growth and the different sections of the plant wich are used request for adapted weeding technics. In addition to collecting data manually also computer imageguided systems are inserted to show the succsess of the different weed treatments and their influence on the three crops. This project is supported by the FNR – Fachagentur Nachwachsend Rohstoffe e.V.