Color indicators as parameters for predicting the content of organic carbon in soils

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The study of chemical, physical and biological properties of soil is important for theoretical and practical soil science. The study of soil properties, in particular the determination of organic carbon content, requires a lot of time and money. Effective measurement of soil organic carbon is necessary to manage the functioning of ecosystems. Organic carbon has an important effect on soil properties and also plays a key role in mitigating the effects of climate change, as carbon dioxide (CO2) can be removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil, thereby reducing the warming effect. Soil color is one of the key soil characteristics that can be quickly analyzed and is closely related to a number of other physical and chemical soil parameters. According to the researches of domestic and foreign scientists, soils are the main storage place for soil carbon, which plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. With technological progress and the development of imaging systems, image-based soil characterization methods have attracted considerable attention from the global soil science community. Unlike soil spectroscopy, imaging devices such as digital cameras or phone cameras are readily available. Traditionally, soil color is quantified using Munsell’s color system, which requires subjective visual comparison, but recently foreign scientists have begun to use RGB, CMYK, HSB color schemes, the definition of which is available in almost all computer graphics editors. With the increase in the use of smartphones and the gradual improvement of the quality of photo images, the use of smartphone photos to predict organic carbon content shows great potential for development. Unlike face recognition and other recognition methods that mainly rely on object profiles, color is one of the most important factors in determining the accuracy of organic carbon prediction. Different hardware configurations and hardware software settings may cause differences in photo colors.