Measurement of Within-Field Spatial Variability for Evaluating Soil Degradation
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land – Observation and Monitoring".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2023) | Viewed by 14409
Special Issue Editors
Interests: precision agriculture; global navigation satellite systems for agricultural machines; geo-referenced measurement and mapping of soil compaction; remote sensing; renewable energy in agriculture
Interests: proximal soil sensing; soil and water management; soil dynamics; tillage; traction; compaction; mechanical weeding; soil remediation and management and precision agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The within-field spatial variability is the variation of the soil and/or crop parameters of a field.
Soil parameters include: structure; cone penetrometer resistance, index of soil compaction; shear strength; draft force; depth of cultivated layer; texture; pH; nutrient, water and organic matter contents; microflora; microfauna; weeds; parasites.
Crop parameters include: plant biomass; vegetative vigour; yield; production quality.
Precision agriculture takes into account the within-field spatial variability, so that its cycle is constituted by three phases: geo-referenced measurement of field parameters; mapping and interpretation of geo-referenced data; application of spatially variable rates of crop inputs.
The correct field management according to the principles of precision agriculture also requires the real-time geo-referenced measurement of crop and soil parameters, by means of specific sensors.
The implementation of intensive agriculture has led to use heavy machines having high working capacity and requiring high draft force. The traffic of agricultural machines, having a higher weight, causes: higher pressure on the soil and, therefore, soil compaction; reduction of porosity to less than 10%; creation of obstacles to air, water and nutrient movements, as well as root penetration; increase of soil density, even at 0-0.50 m depth, where the elongated pores distributed along lines parallel to the field plane are prevalent on those distributed normally to the field plane itself, that are relevant for water drainage.
Repeated passes of agricultural machines on a field can cause pans, having a low permeability to water and nutrients and a high resistance to root penetration.
Plant root diameter, elongation and morphology are negatively affected by soil compaction, that, therefore, can reduce crop yield.
Besides soil compaction, other negative effects are caused by the excessive pressure of agricultural machines on soils: destruction of soil structure; change of the balances of soil water, air and nutrients; destruction of vegetation cover and plants roots.
In order to prevent the negative effects caused by the traffic of agricultural machines, it is needed to minimise the pressure on the contact area between their propulsion organs and the soil: tracked tractors or wheeled ones equipped with low-pressure or twinned or triple tyres can be used.
Another solution to the problem of soil compaction is Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF), where agricultural machines must follow the same trajectories.
A further solution to the above problem is the geo-referenced measurement of soil cone penetrometer resistance, in order to produce soil compaction maps and, therefore, plan spatially variable depth soil tillage.
Soil degradation includes not only soil compaction but also hydrogeological instability, comprising natural events accelerated and, therefore, converted into natural disasters by human activities: surface erosion; landslides; floods; water stagnation. Surface erosion, caused by water, is the transport of soil mass from the top to the bottom of a slope. The first step of this type of hydrogeological instability is soil erosion.
In order to prevent or minimise soil erosion, soil contour ploughing is needed but the mouldboard plough must let the soil slice rotate upslope, in order to compensate for soil erosion, moving it downslope.
Another option for preventing or minimising soil erosion can be the implementation of conservative soil tillage techniques (e.g. minimum tillage), by means of implements different from mouldboard plough (e.g. subsoiler, rotary tiller and chisel plough).
Therefore, the geo-referenced measurement and mapping of within-field spatial variability (i.e. both soil and crop parameters) is needed for evaluating soil degradation, including compaction and erosion, as well as the other negative effects of the excessive pressure of agricultural machines on soils.
We are pleased to invite you to submit your works to this Special Issue, which aims at examining soil degradation, that is compaction and erosion, as well as the other negative effects of the excessive pressure of agricultural machines on soils, from different points of view, including those outside our research expertise.
We welcome contributions reporting novel results at a regional or local scale, as long as they consider the usefulness and interest for an international audience.
This Special Issue aims at collecting outstanding results on the geo-referenced measurement and mapping of within-field spatial variability (i.e. both soil and crop parameters), needed for evaluating soil degradation, including compaction and erosion, as well as the other negative effects of the excessive pressure of agricultural machines on soils.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Proximal real-time sensors for the geo-referenced measurement of within-field soil and crop parameters.
- Techniques for the remote sensing of within-field soil and crop parameters from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aircrafts and satellites.
- Methods for the 2D and 3D mapping of soil and crop parameters.
- Methods for evaluating soil compaction and erosion, as well as the other negative effects of human activities on soils.
- Proposals of solutions for minimising soil compaction and erosion, as well as the other negative effects of human activities on soils.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Antonio Comparetti
Prof. Dr. Abdul M. Mouazen
Dr. Santo Orlando
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- soil and crop parameters
- soil compaction
- soil erosion
- hydrogeological instability
- human activities
- best practices
- agricultural mechanization
- conservative soil tillage
- precision agriculture
- proximal and remote sensing
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