Optifer: An application to optimize fertiliser costs in fertigation

To obtain a greater amount of food by increasing the land yield, it is a common farming practice to apply fertilisers, the selection and cost of which are subject to intensive research. This study presents a new software application named “Optifer”, which permits the calculation of the least expensive combination of fertilisers to obtain the desired nutrient solution for fertigation, efficient fertiliser management and time and money savings. The software includes a fertiliser database, which allows the parameters to be verified and modified. The use of the application is notably simple. After a few basic steps, such as inputting the composition of the irrigation water to be used, choosing the fertilisers available to the farmer and entering the nutrient solution sought, the software calculates the quantity of each fertiliser that must be added to the fertiliser tanks, considering balance percentages, irrigation water flow rates, spray rates and tank capacities. Additionally, the user has the option of saving a historical record of the data used and the results of the processes.