The Relationship between Soil Electrical Parameters and Compaction of Sandy Clay Loam Soil

Abstract

Soil spatial variability mapping allows the delimitation of the number of soil samples investigated to describe agricultural areas; it is crucial in precision agriculture. Electrical soil parameters are promising factors for the delimitation of management zones. One of the soil parameters that affects yield is soil compaction. The objective of this work was to indicate electrical parameters useful for the delimitation of management zones connected with soil compaction. For this purpose, the measurement of apparent soil electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility was conducted at two depths: 0.5 and 1 m. Soil compaction was measured for a soil layer at 0–0.5 m. Relationships between electrical soil parameters and soil compaction were modelled with the use of two types of neural networks—multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF). Better prediction quality was observed for RBF models. It can be stated that in the mathematical model, the apparent soil electrical conductivity affects soil compaction significantly more than magnetic susceptibility. However, magnetic susceptibility gives additional information about soil properties, and therefore, both electrical parameters should be used simultaneously for the delimitation of management zones.