Continuous field soil moisture content mapping by means of apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measurement

Abstract

Abstract:A soil moisture content map is important for providing information about the distribution of moisture in a given area. Moisture content directly influences agricultural yield thus it is crucial to have accurate and reliable information about moisture distribution and content in the field. Since soil is a porous medium modified generalized Archie's equation provides the basic formula to calculate moisture content data based on measured EC a . In this study we aimed to find a more accurate and cost effective method for measuring moisture content than manual field sampling. Locations of 25 sampling points were chosen from our research field as a reference. We assumed that soil moisture content could be calculated by measuring apparent electrical conductivity (EC a ) using the Veris-3100 on-the-go soil mapping tool. Statistical analysis was carried out on the 10.791 EC a raw data in order to filter the outliers. The applied statistical method was ±1.5 interquartile (IRQ) distance approach. The visualization of soil moisture distribution within the experimental field was carried out by means of ArcGIS/ArcMAP using the inverse distance weighting interpolation method. In the investigated 25 sampling points, coefficient of determination between calculated volumetric moisture content data and measured EC a was R 2 = 0.87. According to our results, volumetric moisture content can be mapped by applying EC a measurements in these particular soil types.

Effects of soil compaction on cereal yield

“…Fig. 4 demonstrates that the results that use soil electrical conductivity to predict volumetric soil moisture content from clay content of test field were very successful (R 2 = 0.87) (Nagy et al 2013). The establishment of the connection between EC a and moisture content was proved in a previous article by Balla et al (2013) for the same field.…”

“…The above-mentioned EC a measurements (Nagy et al 2013;Nyéki et al 2013) describe the relationship between maize yield, soil moisture content and tillage draft force with soil physical properties. Maize yield cannot complete the plant emergence and plant height in the growing season because of soil compaction in the case of silt loam soil maize.…”

“…We emphasize that the EC a measurements could contribute to the increase in accuracy of decision support models (Nagy et al 2013). …”

The role of soil moisture content on maize (Zea Mays L.) emergence and production

“…In most cases -due to their low spatial frequencies -manual sampling and laboratory analysis does not provide enough information for mapping within-field differences. Soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements provide reliable information of spatial distribution of soil moisture content (Nagy et al, 2013, Milics et al, 2017. In agriculture -especially in precision agriculture -yield is the indicator of success.…”

Untitled

“…Soil moisture measurement in precision agriculture is in the research focus in order to find an efficient way for measuring soil moisture content . Soil apparent electrical conductivity is one possibility to measure indirectly soil moisture content (Milics et al, 2012, Nagy et al, 2013Balla et al, 2013). Soil apparent electrical conductivity measurement in this particular field proved that mapping soil moisture content within-field results additional information for precision agriculture practice (Milics et al, 2017).…”