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Map and Zap|Agricultural Research New Zealand|AgResearch Our Science Our Science Animal ScienceSubletSystems and Environment Food and Bio-based Products Forage Science Read Our Research Doing Business Doing Business Working for you Māori Agribusiness Our Partners Products and ServicesWell-nighUsWell-nighUs Meet Our People Our Organisation Purpose & Values Our Subsidiaries & Joint Ventures Our Land and Water News Contact Careers BACK TO NEWS Forage Science Lasers from whilom to zap weeds causing billion-dollar headache Drone-mounted lasers could be used to zap weeds that are posing a billion-dollar problem for New Zealand agriculture, AgResearch scientists say.AgResearch – with partners the Universities of Auckland and Michigan and NZ-based technology firm Redfern Solutions Limited - has been awarded just under $1 million from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s Endeavour Fund to squint into how to “map and zap” the many weeds plaguing productive land.A recent study led by AgResearch terminated from misogynist research that the known financing of weeds to New Zealand threshing was at least $1.685 billion a year, but that the true forfeit from all weeds was likely to be much higher. Environmentally friendly tools are stuff urgently sought for the early tenancy of these weeds.“The idea is to mount specialist cameras on the drone or UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) that can first identify the weeds based on their unique chemical signatures and how they reflect light, and precisely map their locations using GPS,” says programme leader Dr Kioumars Ghamkhar.“From there, we think smart spraying (rather than systemic and non-targeted use of chemicals), or the right kind of laser mounted on the drone could strop in and forfeiture the weed. We know there are lasers now misogynist that could be suitable, and that they are extremely accurate, so if lasers are used, it would moreover stave rabble-rousing the useful plants virtually the weed.”Dr Ghamkhar says the current methods for tackling weeds can be very expensive and time-consuming, and often involve chemicals which can impact on crops, soil quality or water sources.“We want to develop something that could be an efficient option for users such as farmers, regional councils and the Department of Conservation. We’ve once spoken with our collaborators in the universities well-nigh the lasers that are misogynist that might be suitable. The effectiveness of lasers versus plants has been tested overseas surpassing but that was in the lab, and we’ll be taking it out in the field to test and see if it works as we have planned.”“We’ll be starting with testing of variegated types of laser with plants at three variegated stages of growth in the lab, and from there we will select the weightier form of laser to see its impacts on the weeds out on a farm.”“There are issues we would have to consider such as heat generated by the lasers, and the risk of starting fire, and we’ll be very conscious of this particularly where there are dry days or drought conditions. We’ll moreover be looking at using a group of small lasers to uncontrived at the weed, as opposed to one large and powerful laser that might generate increasingly heat.”Dr Ghamkhar says the method of identifying variegated plants by chemical signature has once been shown to be workable in other AgResearch projects, and the rencontre now is to virtuously identify weeds in the same way so use of the drone-mounted laser can be effective, or at a minimum targeted spraying from equipment mounted on the drone.The programme is funded for a period of three years, and if successful could lead to potential for commercial development.Information well-nigh the weeds well-expressed agricultural land in New Zealand can be found at www.agpest.co.nz ARTICLE INFORMATION People DR. KIOUMARS GHAMKHAR Collaborators UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN RED FERN SOLUTIONS LTD. For increasingly information JARROD BOOKER RELATED NEWS Prestigious ribbon for profitable Chinese threshing PhD student gains support to remoter her work on plant disease suppression in pastoral soils Biocontrol protrude shows unconfined promise New steps in fight versus agricultural insect pest New research into understanding West Coast agricultural pest START WORKING WITH US PROVEN RESULTS AgResearch played a key role in saving New Zealand up to $133 million a year in tenancy costs, with a world first eradication of the invasiveUnconfinedWhite Butterfly. AgResearch scientists discovered a gene which ways increasingly lambs with little uneaten effort for farmers. AgResearch has shown sheep milk has real benefits for gut health. Studies like this help grow New Zealand industries. AgResearch scientists helped develop The Wool Runner, "the world's most well-appointed shoe". AgResearch's decade-long research into neonatal lamb deaths identified key genetic, maternal and environmental factors well-expressed lamb survival – all of which has reverted sublet practices and improved survival rates. AgResearch has unsalaried $5m to the establishment of the world-class Southern Dairy Hub, which provides quality science to support the future of dairy farming in Southland and South Otago. START WORKING WITH US Find out increasingly well-nigh our science Terms and conditions