Performance of a Mobile Salinity Monitoring Device Developed for Turfgrass Situations

Abstract

Spatial salinity mapping with a mobile sensor platform allowing GPS‐labeled data on turfgrass areas would facilitate site‐specific leaching programs for salinity management. A salinity monitoring device (SMD) based on 4‐Wenner array electrical resistivity (ER) electrode configuration was developed for turfgrass sites and tested on three soils at Griffin, GA and a golf course fairway in Naples, FL on two dates where the fairway received saline irrigation water. Using directed soil sampling, the SMD resulted in soil apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) vs. laboratory saturated paste extract electrical conductivity (ECe) linear relationships with r2 of 0.59 to 0.87 (p < 0.0002) for 0 to 10 cm and 0 to 20 cm zones at Griffin, GA. For two mapping events varying two‐ to threefold in salinity levels at the golf course fairway, the ECa vs. ECe linear regressions exhibited similar slopes, different intercepts (due to two to threefold difference in background salinity), and r2 of 0.53 to 0.58 (p < 0.002). On another fairway, a detailed spatial salinity map using geographic information systems (GIS) methods was developed using a sampling grid of 2 by 3 m, which was well within the 19 m range determined for spatial autocorrelation of the data. Our data suggest the empirical methods developed for agricultural soils for relating ECa to ECe and for determining average ECa of discrete subsurface zones may differ under turfgrass conditions due to stratification of the surface organic matter layer influencing water holding capacity, soluble salt retention, and averaging ECa within a subsurface zone.