Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2012, Vol. 12 Issue (10): 1729-1737    DOI: 10.1016/S1671-2927(00)8707
SOIL & FERTILIZER · AGRI-ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Geostatistical Assessment of the Spatial Distribution of Some Chemical Properties in Calcareous Soils
 Asma Najafian, Mahmood Dayani, Hamid Reza Motaghian,  Habibolah Nadian
1.Department of Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz 7144165186, Iran
2.Department of Soil Sciences, Khouzestan Ramin University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ahwaz 6341773637, Iran
3.Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord 8818634141, Iran
Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
摘要  Spatial patterns of soil fertility parameters and other extrinsic factors need to be identified to develop farming practices that match agricultural inputs with local crop needs. Little is known about the spatial structure of nutrition in Iran. The present study was conducted in a 132-ha field located in central Iran. Soil samples were collected at 0-30 cm depth and were then analyzed for total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), available potassium (K), available copper (Cu), available zinc (Zn), available iron (Fe) and available manganese (Mn). The results showed that the contents of soil organic matter, Cu and Zn in Marvdasht’s farms were low. The spatial distribution model and spatial dependence level for soil chemical properties varied in the field. N, K, carbonate calcium equivalent (CaCO3) and electrical conductivity (EC) data indicated the existence of moderate spatial dependence. The variograms for other variables revealed stronger spatial structure. The results showed a longer range value for available P (480 m), followed by total N (429 m). The value of other chemical properties values showed a shorter range (128 to 174 m). Clear patchy distribution of N, P, K, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn were found from their spatial distribution maps. This proved that sampling strategy for estimating variability should be adapted to the different soil chemical properties and field management. Therefore, the spatial variability of soil chemical properties with strong spatial dependence could be readily managed and a site-specific fertilization scheme for precision farming could be easily developed.

Abstract  Spatial patterns of soil fertility parameters and other extrinsic factors need to be identified to develop farming practices that match agricultural inputs with local crop needs. Little is known about the spatial structure of nutrition in Iran. The present study was conducted in a 132-ha field located in central Iran. Soil samples were collected at 0-30 cm depth and were then analyzed for total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), available potassium (K), available copper (Cu), available zinc (Zn), available iron (Fe) and available manganese (Mn). The results showed that the contents of soil organic matter, Cu and Zn in Marvdasht’s farms were low. The spatial distribution model and spatial dependence level for soil chemical properties varied in the field. N, K, carbonate calcium equivalent (CaCO3) and electrical conductivity (EC) data indicated the existence of moderate spatial dependence. The variograms for other variables revealed stronger spatial structure. The results showed a longer range value for available P (480 m), followed by total N (429 m). The value of other chemical properties values showed a shorter range (128 to 174 m). Clear patchy distribution of N, P, K, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn were found from their spatial distribution maps. This proved that sampling strategy for estimating variability should be adapted to the different soil chemical properties and field management. Therefore, the spatial variability of soil chemical properties with strong spatial dependence could be readily managed and a site-specific fertilization scheme for precision farming could be easily developed.
Keywords:  geostatistics       kriging       spatial variability       precision farming  
Received: 17 January 2012   Accepted:
Fund: 

This research was carried out at the Soil Science Lab in the Department of Soil Sciences, Ramin University, and was supported by funds from Ramin University.

Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence Mahmood Dayani, Tel: +98-612-3225289, E-mail: dayani_1983@yahoo.com      E-mail:  dayani_1983@yahoo.com

Cite this article: 

Asma Najafian, Mahmood Dayani, Hamid Reza Motaghian, Habibolah Nadian. 2012. Geostatistical Assessment of the Spatial Distribution of Some Chemical Properties in Calcareous Soils. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12(10): 1729-1737.

[1]Anderson J C, Mitsch J W, Nairn W R. 2005. Temporal andspatial development of surface soil conditions at twocreated riverine marshes. Journal of EnvironmentalQuality, 34, 2072-2081.

[2]Bruland G L, Richardson C J. 2005. Spatial variability of soilproperties in created, restored, and paired naturalwetlands. Soil Science Society of America Journal,69, 273-284.

[3]Burgess T M, Webster R. 1980a. Optimal interpolation andisarithmic mapping of soil properties. I. The semivariogramand punctual kriging. Journal of SoilScience, 31, 315-331.

[4]Burgess T M, Webster R. 1980b. Optimal interpolation andisarithmic mapping of soil properties. II. Block kriging.Journal of Soil Science, 31, 333-341.

[5]Buscaglia H J, Varco J J. 2003. Comparison of samplingdesigns in the detection of spatial variability ofMississippi Delta soils. Soil Science Society of AmericaJournal, 67, 1180-1185.

[6]Cambardella C A, Karlen D L. 1999. Spatial analysis of soilfertility parameters. Precision Agriculture, 1, 5-14.

[7]Cambardella C A, Moorman T B, Parkin T B, Karlen D L,Turco R F, Konopka A E. 1994. Field scale variability ofsoil properties in Central Iowa soils. Soil Science Societyof America Journal, 58, 1501-1511.

[8]Cassel D K, Wendroth O, Nielsen D R. 2000. Assessingspatial variability in an agricultural experiment stationfield: opportunities arising from spatial dependence.Agronomy Journal, 92, 706-714.

[9]Corstanje R, Grunwald S, Reddy K R, Osborne T Z, NewmanS. 2006. Assessment of the spatial distribution of soilproperties in a northern everglades marsh. Journal ofEnvironmental Quality, 35, 938-949.

[10]Edwards I, Gillespie A, Chen J, Johnsen K, Turco R. 2005.Spatial distribution of ammonium and calcium inoptimally fertilized pine plantation soils. Soil ScienceSociety of America Journal, 69, 1813-1821.

[11]Fagroud M, van Meirvenne M. 2002. Accounting for soilspatial autocorrelation in the design of experimentaltrials. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 66,1134-1142.

[12]Francisca LG, Montserrat J E, SilviaA, Alfonso G F,Manuel SO, Luis G T. 2002. Spatial variability of agricultural soilparameters in southern Spain. Plant and Soil, 246, 97-105.

[13]Gaston L A, Locke M A, Zablotowicz R M, Reddy K N.2001. Spatial variability of soil properties and weedpopulations in the Mississippi Delta. Soil ScienceSociety of America Journal, 65, 449-459.

[14].2012, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Gee GW, Bauder JW. 1986. Particle size analysis. In: KluteA, ed. Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 1. 2nd ed. ASAand SSSA, Madison, WI. pp. 404-407.

[15]Geypens M, Vanongeval L, Vogels N, Meykens J. 1999.Spatial variability of agricultural soil fertility parametersin a gleyic podzol of Belgium. In: Precision AgricultureSoil Nutrients and Site-Specific Nutrient ManagementICETS2000-Session 6: Technology Innovation andSustainable Agriculture. Kluwer Academic Publishers,The Netherlands. pp. 127-131.

[16]Goovaerts P. 1999. Geostatistics in soil science: state-ofthe-art and perspectives. Geoderma, 89, 1-45.

[17]Huang SW, Jin J Y, Yang LP, BaiYL. 2006. Spatial variabilityof soil nutrients and influencing factors in a vegetableproduction area of Hebei Province in China. NutrientCycling in Agroecosystems, 75, 201-212.

[18]Huang S W, Jin J Y. 2002. Advance in study on spatialvariability of soil chemical properties. Soils andFertilizers, 1, 8-14.

[19]Iqbal J, Thomasson A J, Jenkins N J, Owens R P, Whisler DF. 2005. Spatial variability analysis of soil physicalproperties of alluvial soils. Soil Science Society ofAmerica Journal, 69, 1338-1350.

[20]Isaaks H E, Srivastava R M. 1989. An Introduction toApplied Geostatistics. Oxford University Press, NY.Jin J Y, Jiang C. 2002. Spatial variability of soil nutrients andsitespecific nutrient management in the P.R.China.Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 36, 165-172.

[21]Johnston K, ver Hoef J M, Krivoruchko K, Lucas N. 2001.Using ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst. ESRI, Redlands,CA. p. 306.Kravchenko A N, Robertson G P, Snap S S, Smucker A J M.2006. Using information about spatial variability toimproveestimates of total soil carbon. AgronomyJournal, 98, 823-829.

[22]Lauzon D J, O’Halloran P I, Fallow J D, von Bertoldi A P,Aspinall D. 2005. Spatial variability of soil testphosphorus, potassium, and pH of Ontario soils.Agronomy Journal, 97, 524-532.

[23]Lee B D, Graham R C, Laurent T E, Amrhein C, Creasy R M.2001. Spatial distributions of soil chemical conditionsin a serpentinitic wetland and surrounding landscape.Soil Science Society of America Journal, 65, 1183-1196.

[24]Li Y, Shi Z, Wang R C, Huang M X. 2004. Estimates ofelectrical conductivity for coastal saline soil profileusing cokriging under different sampling density. ActaPedologica Sinica, 41, 434-443.

[25]Li W D. 2007. Transiograms for characterizing spatialvariability of soil classes. Agronomy Journal, 71, 881-893.

[26]Lindsay W L, Norvell WA. 1978. Development of a DTPAsoil test for zinc, Iron, manganese and copper. SoilScience Society of America Journal, 42, 421-428.

[27]Loeppert R H, Suarez D L. 1996. Carbonate and gypsum. In:Sparks D L, ed., Methods of Soil Analysis. Soil ScienceSociety of America Journal, Madison. pp. 437-474.

[28]Maestre T F, Cortina J. 2002. Spatial patterns of surfacesoil properties and vegetation in a Mediterranean semiaridsteppe. Plant and Soil, 241, 279-291.

[29]Matheron G. 1971. The Theory of Regionalized Variablesand Its Applications. Les Cahiers du Centre deMorphologie Mathématique, Fasc. 5. Fontainebleau,France.Mueller T G, Pierce F J. 2003. Soil carbon maps: enhancingspatial estimates with simple terrain attributes at multiplescales. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 67,258-267.

[30]Nelson D W, Sommers L E. 1996. Carbon, organic carbon,and organic matter. In: Sparks D L, ed., Methods of SoilAnalysis. Soil Science Society of America Journal,Madison. pp. 961-1010.

[31]Page A L, Miller R H, Keeney D R. 1982. Methods of SoilAnalysis. Part 2. Chemical and MicrobiologicalProperties. ASA and SSSA, Madison. p. 1159.Pannatier Y. 1996. VARIOWIN, Software for Spatial DataAnalysis in 2D. Springer-Verlag, New York. p. 91.Rhoades J D. 1996. Salinity: electrical conductivity andtotal dissolved solids. In: Sparks D L, ed., Methods ofSoil Analysis. Soil Science Society of America Journal,Madison. pp. 417-435.

[32]Ruffo L M, Bollero A G, Hoeft G R, Bullock G D. 2005.Spatial variability of the Illinois soil nitrogen test:implications for soil sampling. Agronomy Journal, 97,1485-1492.

[33]Shahandeh H, Wright A L, Hons F M, Lascano R J. 2005.Spatial and temporal variation of soil nitrogenparameters related to soil texture and corn yield.Agronomy Journal, 97, 772-782.

[34]Shukla K M, Lal R, van Leeuwen D. 2007. Spatial variabilityof aggregate-associated carbon and nitrogen contentsin the reclaimed minesoils of eastern Ohio. Soil ScienceSociety of America Journal, 71, 1748-1757.

[35]Sun B, Zhou S L, Zhao Q G. 2003. Evaluation of spatial andtemporal changes of soil quality based on geostatisticalanalysis in the hill region of subtropical China.Geoderma, 115, 85-99.

[36]Shi Z, Wang K, Baily J S, Jordan C, Higgins A H. 2002.Temporal changes in the spatial distributions of somesoil properties on a temperate grassland site. Soil Useand Management, 25, 111-116.

[37]Thomas GW. 1996. Soil pH and soil acidity. In: Sparks D L,ed., Methods of Soil Analysis. Soil Science Society ofAmerica Journal, Madison. pp. 475-490.

[38]Wei Y C, Bai Y L, Jin J Y, Zhang F, Zhang L P, Liu X Q. 2009.Spatial variability of soil chemical properties in thereclaiming marine foreland to yellow sea of China.Agricultural Sciences in China, 8, 1103-1111.

[39]Wu J, NorvellWA, Hopkins D G, Welch R M. 2002. Spatialvariability of grain cadmium and soil characteristics ina durum wheat field. Soil Science Society of AmericaJournal, 66, 268-275.

[40]XingY Z, Yue Y S, Xu D Z, Kai M, Herbert S J. 2007. Spatialvariability of nutrient properties in black soil ofNortheast China. Pedosphere, 17, 19-29.
[1] DING Ji-ping, LI Jing-han, LIU Jia-huan, ZHANG Wei-feng, JIA Xiang-ping. ICT-based agricultural advisory services and nitrogen management practices: A case study of wheat production in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2022, 21(6): 1799-1811.
[2] SONG Fang-fang, XU Ming-gang, DUAN Ying-hua, CAI Ze-jiang, WEN Shi-lin, CHEN Xian-ni, SHI Wei-qi, Gilles COLINET. Spatial variability of soil properties in red soil and its implications for site-specific fertilizer management[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(9): 2313-2325.
[3] GAO Xue-song, XIAO Yi, DENG Liang-ji, LI Qi-quan, WANG Chang-quan, LI Bing, DENG Ou-ping, ZENG Min. Spatial variability of soil total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in Renshou County of Sichuan Basin, China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(2): 279-289.
[4] LI Shan, LI Qi-quan, WANG Chang-quan, LI Bing, GAO Xue-song, LI Yi-ding, WU De-yong. Spatial variability of soil bulk density and its controlling factors in an agricultural intensive area of Chengdu Plain, Southwest China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(2): 290-300.
[5] ZHANG Shi-wen, SHEN Chong-yang, CHEN Xiao-yang, YE Hui-chun, HUANG Yuan-fang , LAI Shuang. Spatial Interpolation of Soil Texture Using Compositional Kriging and Regression Kriging with Consideration of the Characteristics of Compositional Data and Environment Variables[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2013, 12(9): 1673-1683.
[6] LI Xiao-ming, YANG Jing-song, LIU Mei-xian, LIU Guang-ming, YU Mei. Spatio-Temporal Changes of Soil Salinity in Arid Areas of South Xinjiang Using Electromagnetic Induction[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2012, 12(8): 1365-1376.
[7] LIAO Kai-hua, XU Shao-hui, WU Ji-chun, JI Shu-hua, LIN Qing. Cokriging of Soil Cation Exchange Capacity Using the First Principal Component Derived from Soil Physico-Chemical Properties[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2011, 10(8): 1246-1253.
No Suggested Reading articles found!