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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #213124
Title: SOIL PROPERTY ESTIMATION AND VARIABLE TILLAGE RECOMMENDATION USING GEO-REFERENCED CONE INDEX

Author
item CHUNG, S - CHUNGNAM NATL. UNI. KOREA
item Sudduth, Kenneth - Ken

Submitted to: Asian Conference on Precision Agriculture
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2007
Publication Date: 8/2/2007
Citation: Chung, S.O., Sudduth, K.A. 2007. Soil property estimation and variable tillage recommendation using geo-referenced cone index. In: Proceedings 2nd Asian Conference on Precision Agriculture. August 2-4, 2007 CDROM. Pyeongtaek, Korea.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil compaction is a concern in crop production and environmental protection. Compaction is most often quantified in the field, albeit indirectly, using cone penetrometer measurements of soil strength, reported as cone index (CI). In this research, CI data collected under different soil conditions (e.g., texture and water content) were analyzed to detect variations in soil compaction and to define parameters useful for compaction management (e.g., location of and depth to compacted zones). CI profiles were collected on a 20- to 30-m grid spacing from two fields with variations in soil texture, bulk density, and water content. Auxiliary data collected were bulk density, water content, and apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) as a surrogate for soil texture. Results indicated that the effects of ECa, bulk density, and soil water content on CI were different for different sites, depths, and ECa ranges (or clay content). Maps of CI showed spatial and vertical variability, indicating that the locations of and depths to layers restricting crop growth were not uniform over entire fields. When 2 MPa was used as a threshold CI value to delineate compacted areas, the portion of each field needing management to reduce compaction was 21% and 36%. This indicated that site-specific and depth-specific field management (e.g., tillage) could be more efficient in terms of energy and labor than conventional uniform field management.