Mapping of soil variability for increasing precision with managed drought stress phenotyping
- Publication Type
- Contribution to conference
- Authors
- Romano G; Spreer W; Cairns J; Zia S; Orsini E; Weber V; Melchinger A E; Müller J
- Year of publication
- 2010
- Published in
- Proceedings of the XVIIth World Congress of the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR)
- Page (from - to)
- 1-10
- Conference name
- XVIIth World Congress of the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR) - Section III: Equipment Engineering for Plant Production
- Conference location
- Quebec City (Canada)
- Conference date
- 13-17 June 2010
The aim of this study was to identify field variability within a drought phenotyping experimental site using an EM38 sensor, and establish the relationship between apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) and soil physical and chemical properties. Within areas of high spatial variability for ECa sixty soil core samples were taken at 0-10 cm, 10-50 cm and 50-100 cm soil depth and analysed for soil texture, salinity, field capacity, saturation point, field capacity, permanent wilting point, pH as well as cations and anions in the saturation extract. EM38 measurements revealed soil heterogeneity within the experimental field. ECa ranged from 70 to 103 mS/m . Destructive soil sampling identified this site to be a loam soil, with moderate alkalinity (pH 8.2 ± 0.10) within the upper 50 cm Correlations between ECa and soil chemical and physical properties revealed calcium content to be the soil property with the highest significant relationship with ECa (r = 0.70, p<0.001) between 10-50 cm soil depth. Significant correlations between ECa and soil chemistry were also observed for magnesium, nitrate and bicarbonate at all soil depths. No significant relationship between ECa and soil texture was observed. ECa measurements were positively correlated (r = 0.58, p<0.01) with field capacity, permanent wilting point and plant available water close to surface (0-10 cm soil depth). Results of this preliminary study confirm the potential of soil sensors to improve precision within field phenotyping. Further work is required to validate the potential of soil sensors to improve precision within field phenotyping.