An integrated approach to site-specific management zone delineation

doi:10.15302/J-FASE-2018230

Front. Agr. Sci. Eng.

2018, Vol. 5

Issue (4) : 432-441 https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2018230

RESEARCH ARTICLE

An integrated approach to site-specific management zone delineation

Yuxin MIAO(

), David J. MULLA, Pierre C. ROBERT

Precision Agriculture Center, Department of Soil, Water and Climate, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA

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Abstract

Dividing fields into a few relatively homogeneous management zones (MZs) is a practical and cost-effective approach to precision agriculture. There are three basic approaches to MZ delineation using soil and/or landscape properties, yield information, and both sources of information. The objective of this study is to propose an integrated approach to delineating site-specific MZ using relative elevation, organic matter, slope, electrical conductivity, yield spatial trend map, and yield temporal stability map (ROSE-YSTTS) and evaluate it against two other approaches using only soil and landscape information (ROSE) or clustering multiple year yield maps (CMYYM). The study was carried out on two no-till corn-soybean rotation fields in eastern Illinois, USA. Two years of nitrogen (N) rate experiments were conducted in Field B to evaluate the delineated MZs for site-specific N management. It was found that in general the ROSE approach was least effective in accounting for crop yield variability (8.0%–9.8%), while the CMYYM approach was least effective in accounting for soil and landscape (8.9%–38.1%), and soil nutrient and pH variability (9.4%–14.5%). The integrated ROSE-YSTTS approach was reasonably effective in accounting for the three sources of variability (38.6%–48.9%, 16.1%–17.3% and 13.2%–18.7% for soil and landscape, nutrient and pH, and yield variability, respectively), being either the best or second best approach. It was also found that the ROSE-YSTTS approach was effective in defining zones with high, medium and low economically optimum N rates. It is concluded that the integrated ROSE-YSTTS approach combining soil, landscape and yield spatial-temporal variability information can overcome the weaknesses of approaches using only soil, landscape or yield information, and is more robust for MZ delineation. It also has the potential for site-specific N management for improved economic returns. More studies are needed to further evaluate their appropriateness for precision N and crop management.

Keywords economically optimum nitrogen rate fuzzy cluster analysis precision nitrogen management site-specific management soil landscape property yield map

Corresponding Author(s): Yuxin MIAO

Just Accepted Date: 18 May 2018 Online First Date: 25 June 2018 Issue Date: 19 November 2018

Cite this article:

Yuxin MIAO,David J. MULLA,Pierre C. ROBERT. An integrated approach to site-specific management zone delineation[J]. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. , 2018, 5(4): 432-441.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/10.15302/J-FASE-2018230
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fase/EN/Y2018/V5/I4/432

Fig.1 Order 1 soil survey maps (1:8000) conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) in Illinois and field history information of Fields A (a) and B (b).

Fig.2 Management zones delineated with different approaches [ROSE (a); CMYYM (b); ROSE-YSTTS (c)] in Field A

Fig.3 Management zones delineated with different approaches [ROSE (a); CMYYM (b); ROSE-YSTTS (c)] in Field B

Tab.1 Soil and landscape variation from CV and RV as explained by different MZ approaches in Fields A and B %

Tab.2 Soil nutrients and pH variation from CV and RV as explained by different MZ approaches in Fields A and B %

Tab.3 Normalized crop yield variation indicated by CV for different years and RV as explained by different MZ approaches in Fields A and B %

Fig.4 Average economically optimum nitrogen rates (EONR) across years and hybrids for field B in different management zones defined by ROSE, ROSE-YSTTS and CMYYM approaches.

Tab.4 Economically optimum nitrogen rates in MZ for two hybrids defined by different approaches in 2001 and 2003, Field B kg·hm^-²

Fig.5 Profitability of applying hybrid-specific, year-specific, and zone-specific economically optimum nitrogen rates in comparison to a uniform N application rate of 168 kg·hm^-² in each zone in 2001 and 2003, Field B.

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