STUDY ON CORRELATION OF DATA FROM YIELD MONITORING SYSTEM AND HAND SAMPLES

One of the basic tools used in precision agriculture technology is yield monitoring and mapping. Yield maps are used to monitor the efficiency of applied inputs, to assess the variability of field and have potential to be used in farm records and farm management software. The paper deals with comparison of yield maps with information on yield obtained from hand sampling. Analyses are based on five-year data from one field with spring barley, oil seed rape, winter wheat and maize crop rotation. Results show that the correlation coefficient across the time period reached a value of 0.89 (p 0.05), which means that the yield maps show the yield trend of the field. However, looking at the data in more detail and comparing the pairs of data for selected (discrete) monitoring points, the error of estimation was calculated. This error showed that the yield monitor underestimated or overestimated the yield in average by 25 %. Therefore, the data cannot be used to evaluate the absolute yield at selected place of the field.