Drone analysis of rice growth of sake Demonstration experiment Kanagawa Ebina September 10 12:27
In Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture, a brewing company that consistently handles rice cultivation and brewing is conducting a field trial to analyze the growth of rice using a drone in order to improve the taste and aroma of sake.
The experiment is being conducted at Izumibashi Sake Brewery in Ebina City, where Kanagawa Prefecture and Keio University cooperate.
Efforts to produce high-quality crops using IT technology are called attention as precision agriculture, and in the experiment, the growth situation of rice is scientifically analyzed using a drone.
On the 3rd of this month, we drone drone in the rice field where Yamada Nishiki, a kind of sake rice, was planted, and shot images and videos from several tens of meters above the ground to investigate rice when there were many spikes.
The drone is equipped with a special camera that can capture multiple wavelengths of light, collecting red and green light reflected by rice leaves and stems, and invisible near-infrared data. I will.
When plants actively perform photosynthesis, they absorb red light well and reflect a lot of near-infrared light, so if you shoot with a drone, you can find out more information about which part of the rice field is actively performing photosynthesis. about it.
Depending on the company, photosynthesis becomes more active, and too much protein in rice can cause the miscellaneous taste of sake.
Therefore, until now, people in charge of brewing, such as sake brewers, walked through the rice fields to check and made decisions based on their experience, such as adjusting the amount of water and fertilizer. Is expected to be managed.
On this day, the person in charge at the brewing company and the prefecture immediately analyzed the images and videos taken and confirmed the degree of rice growth.
The company wants to divide rice fields into 30 plots, collect data at each stage of growth, and compare it with the ingredients of rice harvested in the fall to establish a method for growing rice that is most suitable for sake brewing.
Yuichi Hashiba, president of Izumibashi Sake Brewing, said, “We are hoping that we, who are both agricultural and sake brewers, will be able to make rice and sake brewing like never before by incorporating a new perspective with advanced technology. I would like to carry out what I have done with the law one step further, with the help of new technology."