Site-Specific Management Zones Based on Soil Electrical Conductivity in a Semiarid Cropping System

Peralta, N. R., Costa, J. L., Balzarini, M. and Angelini, H. 2013. Delineation of management zones with measurements of soil apparent electrical conductivity in the southeastern pampas. Can. J. Soil Sci. 93: 205–218. Site-specific management demands the identification of subfield regions with homogeneous characteristics (management zones). However, determination of subfield areas is difficult because of complex correlations and spatial variability of soil properties responsible for variations in crop yields within the field. We evaluated whether apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) is a potential estimator of soil properties, and a tool for the delimitation of homogeneous zones. ECamapping of a total of 647 ha was performed in four sites of Argentinean pampas, with two fields per site composed of several soil series. Soil properties and ECawere analyzed using principal components (PC)–stepwise regression and ANOVA. The PC–stepwise regression showed that clay, soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and soil gravimetric water content (θg) are key loading factors, for explaining the ECa(R2≥0.50). In contrast, silt, sand, extract electrical conductivity (ECext), pH values and [Formula: see text]-N content were not able to explain the ECa. The ANOVA showed that ECameasurements successfully delimited three homogeneous soil zones associated with spatial distribution of clay, soil moisture, CEC, SOM content and pH. These results suggest that field-scale ECamaps have the potential to design sampling zones to implement site-specific management strategies.

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Establishing management zones using soil electrical conductivity and other soil properties by the fuzzy clustering technique

Scientia Agricola ◽

10.1590/s0103-90162008000600001 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 65 (6) ◽

pp. 567-573 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

José Paulo Molin ◽

Cesar Nunes de Castro

Keyword(s):

Electrical Conductivity ◽

Soil Fertility ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Precision Agriculture ◽

Principal Component ◽

Site Specific ◽

Management Zones ◽

Physical Attributes ◽

Definition Of ◽

Specific Management

The design of site-specific management zones that can successfully define uniform regions of soil fertility attributes that are of importance to crop growth is one of the most challenging steps in precision agriculture. One important method of so proceeding is based solely on crop yield stability using information from yield maps; however, it is possible to accomplish this using soil information. In this study the soil was sampled for electrical conductivity and eleven other soil properties, aiming to define uniform site-specific management zones in relation to these variables. Principal component analysis was used to group variables and fuzzy logic classification was used for clustering the transformed variables. The importance of electrical conductivity in this process was evaluated based on its correlation with soil fertility and physical attributes. The results confirmed the utility of electrical conductivity in the definition of management zones and the feasibility of the proposed method.

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Evaluation of site-specific management zones on a farm with 124 contiguous small paddy fields in a multiple-cropping system

Precision Agriculture ◽

10.1007/s11119-008-9062-4 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 147-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Sachiko Ikenaga ◽

Tatsuya Inamura

Keyword(s):

Cropping System ◽

Paddy Fields ◽

Multiple Cropping ◽

Site Specific ◽

Management Zones ◽

Specific Management

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The Relationship between Soil Electrical Parameters and Compaction of Sandy Clay Loam Soil

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11020114 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 114

Author(s):

Katarzyna Pentoś ◽

Krzysztof Pieczarka ◽

Kamil Serwata

Keyword(s):

Electrical Conductivity ◽

Magnetic Susceptibility ◽

Precision Agriculture ◽

Soil Compaction ◽

Soil Layer ◽

Soil Parameters ◽

Soil Electrical Conductivity ◽

Electrical Parameters ◽

Management Zones ◽

Additional Information

Soil spatial variability mapping allows the delimitation of the number of soil samples investigated to describe agricultural areas; it is crucial in precision agriculture. Electrical soil parameters are promising factors for the delimitation of management zones. One of the soil parameters that affects yield is soil compaction. The objective of this work was to indicate electrical parameters useful for the delimitation of management zones connected with soil compaction. For this purpose, the measurement of apparent soil electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility was conducted at two depths: 0.5 and 1 m. Soil compaction was measured for a soil layer at 0–0.5 m. Relationships between electrical soil parameters and soil compaction were modelled with the use of two types of neural networks—multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF). Better prediction quality was observed for RBF models. It can be stated that in the mathematical model, the apparent soil electrical conductivity affects soil compaction significantly more than magnetic susceptibility. However, magnetic susceptibility gives additional information about soil properties, and therefore, both electrical parameters should be used simultaneously for the delimitation of management zones.

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