Spatial variability of apparent electrical conductivity and soil properties in a coffee production field

Abstract

Precision agriculture based on the physical and chemical properties of soil requires dense sampling to determine the spatial variability of these properties. This dense sampling is often expensive and time-consuming. One technique used to reduce sample numbers involves defining management zones based on information collected in the field. Some researchers have demonstrated the importance of soil electrical variables in defining management zones. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the spatial variability of the apparent electrical conductivity and the soil properties in the coffee production of mountain regions. Spatial variability maps were generated using a geostatistical method. Based on the spatial variability results, a correlation analysis, using bivariate Moran's index, was done to evaluate the relationship between the apparent electrical conductivity and soil properties. The maps of potassium (K) and remaining phosphorus (P-rem) were the closest to the spatial variability pattern of the apparent electrical conductivity.KEYWORDS: geostatistical, management zone, sensors. VARIABILIDADE ESPACIAL DA CONDUTIVIDADE ELÉTRICA APARENTE E DAS PROPRIEDADES DO SOLO EM ÁREA DE PRODUÇÃO DE CAFÉRESUMO: A agricultura de precisão baseada nas propriedades físicas e químicas do solo exige uma amostragem densa para se determinar a variabilidade espacial no campo. Essa amostragem densa, muitas vezes, apresenta custo e tempo consumido elevados. Uma das técnicas para reduzir o número de amostras é definir zonas de manejo em função de informações coletadas no campo. Alguns pesquisadores têm demonstrado a importância desempenhada pelas variáveis elétricas do solo para definir zonas de manejo. Dessa forma, este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a relação entre a variabilidade espacial da condutividade elétrica aparente e as propriedades do solo em regiões de produção de cafés de montanha. Os mapas de variabilidade espacial foram gerados utilizando-se de técnicas de geoestatística. Com base nos resultados espacializados, foi realizada uma análise de correlação, utilizando-se do índice de Moran bivariado, entre o mapa de condutividade elétrica e as propriedades do solo. Observou-se que os mapas de potássio (K) e fósforo remanescente (P-rem) foram os que mais se aproximaram do padrão de variabilidade espacial da condutividade elétrica aparente do solo.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: geoestatística, zonas de manejo, sensores.

Precision Techniques and Agriculture 4.0 Technologies to Promote Sustainability in the Coffee Sector: State of the Art, Challenges and Future Trends

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Spatial Variability of Soil Apparent Electrical Conductivity - Effect of the Number of Subsamples

“…This is because ECa presents reliable data of easy and fast measurements at a low cost (Corwin & Scudiero, 2020). Furthermore, the research results indicate that ECa correlates with physical and chemical soil attributes (Moral et al, 2010;Valente et al, 2014;Bottega et al, 2015;Neely et al, 2016;Uribeetxebarria et al, 2018).…”

Management Class Delimitation in a Soybean Crop Using Orbital Images

“…The use of CMs allows for significant advances in the management of field variability by farmers and agronomy specialists, and it facilitates operation by agricultural machines (Leroux et al, 2017). Once defined, the number of soil samples needed to characterize the variables in the production system is reduced (Valente et al, 2014). The crop yield, topographic data, soil apparent electrical conductivity and remote sensing multispectral index are the most frequently used variables when defining the CMs by cluster analysis (Martínez-Casasnovas et al, 2018).…”