Soil is a very diverse media, which can vary from one point to the next in its chemical and physical makeup. Many of these soil properties influence crop yield and can cause yield variations within fields. These soil properties also influence how pollutants move through soil and get into the groundwater or runoff into lakes and streams.
One useful means of mapping these changes is using mobile equipment to measure several soil properties simultaneously. In order to determine where to take the optimum number of soil samples that will characterize the patterns in soil properties within a field, information is first obtained through the use of a global positioning system (GPS). Using statistical software developed by Scott Lesch of the Salinity Laboratory, maps of soil properties are then created by a geographic information system (GIS). These maps are used to guide management decisions for precision agriculture.
All of the steps and techniques are outlined in an article appearing in the May-June issue of Agronomy Journal. The guidelines were originally presented in the Soil Electrical Conductivity in Precision Agriculture Symposium at the 2000 Annual Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy-Crop Science Society of America-Soil Science Society of America.
"These guidelines provide scientists with a standardized means of conducting a soil survey for characterizing the soil chemical and phys
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Contact: Sara Uttech
suttech@agronomy.org
608-273-8080
American Society of Agronomy
4-Jun-2003