CEREGNANO-RO INNOVATION WITH COSMIC NEUTRONS

The experimental company Sasse Rami di Veneto Agricoltura, based in Ceregnano in the province of Rovigo , which has always been at the forefront when it comes to innovation in the agricultural field , is today in the spotlight because it has become - among other research activities that an interesting test field is also held for the development of a revolutionary instrument developed by the University of Padua for measuring water in soils.

To understand the importance of this operation, however, it is necessary to take a step back. In agriculture it is essential to know the water content (moisture) present in the soil, in the air, in a crop, in food for animals, etc. Many daily choices of the agricultural entrepreneur depend on this data, and it must be said that he does not always have adequate tools to measure this important parameter in real time. First generation sensors, spectroscopic instruments, satellite remote sensing, etc. they often do not fully meet the needs of farmers, and it is precisely because of their limited scope and excessive costs that their diffusion is limited.

All this explains why, in the context of soil moisture measurements for agronomic purposes, a new type of sensor capable of detecting the water content present in the soil with great precision is arousing great interest. It is a tool developed by the University of Padua, also for commercial purposes, now owned by Finapp, a dedicated spin-off, led by Luca Stevanato researcher in applied nuclear physics at the "Galileo Galilei" Physics Department of the University of Padua. .

The interest in this latest generation sensor present in the Rovigo experimental company of Veneto Agricoltura derives not only from the quality of the measurement provided, but from the " size" of the data detected , different from those available up to now, that is, capable of interpreting in a new way and - according to the researchers - the nature of the investigated matter is also surprising. This "quantity", in technical terms, is represented by cosmic (high-energy) neutrons, epithermal neutrons and thermal neutrons . Translated and simplified in an extreme way, this means that the rays coming from the cosmos meeting the Earth's atmosphere generate a cascade of nuclear particles including high-energy neutrons. A part of these reaches the earth's surface, crossing the air, clouds, biomass and soil unaltered until the water present in the soil dissipates a share of the energy possessed. The elaboration of these measures, together with many other parameters, provides the quantity of water expressed in kg per m2 present in the soil.

The range of action of the probe reaches up to 200 m and can affect, in its most frequent applications, from 5 to 10 hectares . When the soil moisture is less than 10% it is able to explore the water content up to about 50 cm deep , otherwise shallower depths. L 'probe feeding is provided by a small solar panel and this allows you to install it wherever; it is insensitive to the unevenness of the ground or to moderate variations in slope; furthermore, the measurement maintains its reliability unchanged regardless of the weather conditions.

The world of research has long considered the Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) technique to be the most suitable for measuring the water content of a land on a spatial scale of hectares and with a temporal frequency of the order of hours. What was lacking in the past was the availability of tools that could be installed on farms that were light, reliable and resistant, energy autonomous, affordable and ecological. A gap that this new instrument developed at "Sasse Rami" seems to have filled with flying colors.