Abstract
The basic objectives of this study were: 1) The ability to characterize the spatial variability across a soil for selected soil properties using GIS technique and 2) identification of site-specific management zones using selected soil properties using PCA and cluster analysis. 120 geo-referenced representative soil samples obtained from Sahl AlHussainiyah, El-Sharkia Governorate, Egypt, (from 0 to 0.60 m depth). These samples were prepared and analysed for soil characteristics, such as soil pH, electrical conductivity (ECe), calcium carbonate (CaCO3 ), soil organic matter (OM), available N, P, K, soil cations exchange capacity (CEC), and bulk density (BD). Using semi-variogram analysis and ordinary kriging, spatial distribution pattern varies from moderate to strong spatial dependence for most soil characteristics. Using PCA and cluster analysis, site-specific management zones were identified in the study area. For further analysis, four PCs with eigenvalues > 1 were used, with PCs explaining 73.19 percent of the variance. Four MZs were defined based on cluster analysis using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique. The differences between these MZs were statistically significant (p < 0.05). 3.01 (466.56 ha), 36.47 (5658.9 ha), 31.02 (4813.54 ha), and 29.5 percent (4577.8 ha) of the total area is MZ1, MZ2, MZ3, and MZ4 (15516.8 ha).
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