Abstract
To better understand the potential of soils, understanding how soil properties vary over time and in-field is essential to optimize the cultivation and site-specific technologies in crop production. This article aimed at determining the within-field mapping of soil chemical and physical properties, vegetation index, and yield of maize in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2013, and 2017, respectively. The objectives of this five-year field study were: (i) to assess the spatial and temporal variability of attributes related to the maize yield; and (ii) to analyse the temporal stability of management zones. The experiment was carried out in a 15.3 ha research field in Hungary. The soil measurements included sand, silt, clay content (%), pH, phosphorous (P2O5), potassium (K2O), and zinc (Zn) in the topsoil (30 cm). The apparent soil electrical conductivity was measured in two layers (0–30 cm and 30–90 cm, mS/m) in 2010, in 2013, and in 2017. The soil properties and maize yields were evaluated in 62 management zones, covering the whole research area. The properties were characterized as the spatial-temporal variability of these parameters and crop yields. Classic statistics and geostatistics were used to analyze the results. The maize yields were significantly positively correlated (r = 0.62–0.73) with the apparent electrical conductivity (Veris_N3, Veris_N4) in 2013 and 2017, and with clay content (r = 0.56–0.81) in 2002, 2013, and 2017.
Highlights
For precise determination of the best soil management practices and amendments to increase crop quantity and quality while being environmentally sustainable, it is necessary to understand the spatial and temporal variability in soil properties and yield [1,2,3]
A significant amount of spatial variability and a significant amount of time variability was observed for the maize yield within field [6], and among years, there was marked variability in total growing season precipitation, which likely led to the variability in grain yields
The grain yield maps, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and soil properties presented do not support the notion that the variables are spatially associated [11]
Summary
For precise determination of the best soil management practices and amendments to increase crop quantity and quality while being environmentally sustainable, it is necessary to understand the spatial and temporal variability in soil properties and yield [1,2,3]. The major objective of this study was to determine the spatial soil variability within field of selected physical and chemical properties including the content of textural fractions, pH, phosphorous (P2O5), potassium (K2O), and zinc (Zn) in the topsoil (30 cm), electrical conductivity in two layers, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in a long-term experiment. The specific objectives were to (i) identify soil properties that control maize yields in different weather conditions during a growing season, and (ii) mapping soil variables and crop yields across the field using management zones. For this purpose, the spatial variability of crop production of maize and soil parameters were evaluated and the correlation between these was analyzed
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