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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Bowling Green, Kentucky » Food Animal Environmental Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #395122
Research Project: Developing Agronomically and Environmentally Beneficial Management Practices to Increase the Sustainability and Safety of Animal Manure Utilization

Location: Food Animal Environmental Systems Research

Title: The soiltestcorr R-package: a reproducible approach for correlation analysis of crop yield and soil test data

Author
item CORRENDO, ADRIAN - Kansas State University
item PEARCE, AUSTIN - North Carolina State University
item Bolster, Carl
item SPARGO, JOHN - Pennsylvania State University
item OSMOND, DEANNA - North Carolina State University
item CIAMPITTI, IGNACIO - Kansas State University

Submitted to: SoftwareX
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/17/2022
Publication Date: 2/1/2023
Citation: Correndo, A.A., Pearce, A., Bolster, C.H., Spargo, J., Osmond, D., Ciampitti, I.A. 2023. The soiltestcorr R-package: a reproducible approach for correlation analysis of crop yield and soil test data. SoftwareX. volume 21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2022.101275.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2022.101275

Interpretive Summary: Soil test correlation and calibration are pivotal steps for a science-based development of nutrient recommendation guidelines and decision support tools. However, there is still a lack of consistency in terms of protocols and data documentation, a limited data accessibility, and unsatisfactory reproducibility of analyses from many soil fertility trails around the globe. All these roadblocks impede the adoption of new methods and making science-based progress on current soil fertility approaches. Here, we report on a new open-source software package designed to evaluate correlations between crop yield and soil test values. The package consists of several models for analyzing soil test correlation data to quantify crop response to soil nutrient availability/nutrient supply, critical soil test value (CSTV), and to visualize the results through several plotting functions without requiring users to have advanced programming skills.

Technical Abstract: The soiltestcorr R-package is an open-source software designed to enable computationally reproducible correlation analyses between crop yield and soil test values. The package compiles a series of functions for analyzing soil test correlation data: i) Cate & Nelson quadrants-analysis (graphical and statistical versions), ii) non-linear regression analysis (linear-plateau, quadratic-plateau, and Mitscherlich), and iii) the modified arcsine-log calibration curve. The soiltestcorr enables users to quantify crop response to soil nutrient availability/nutrient supply, critical soil test value (CSTV), and visualize results through ggplot, without requiring advanced programming skills.