While precision agriculture (PA) technologies are widely used in cropping systems, these technologies have received less attention in mixed farming systems. Little is known about the nature, extent, and temporal stability of spatial variability of pastures in mixed farming systems and the feasibility of managing this variability. This paper describes a technique to create a Stability Index based on both crop grain yield and pasture total green dry matter (TGDM) production over time, using high resolution spatial data in two climatic zones of Australia. Four productivity zones were used to characterise the Stability Index: high and stable, high and unstable, low and stable, and low and unstable. Mapping the indices shows the location and size of the spatial and temporal features of each paddock. The features of the stability zones generally corresponded with soil texture classes. Testing the Stability Indices with a Kruskal–Wallis one-way ANOVA showed significantly different medians for high and low production categories for both grain yield and pasture TGDM (p < 0.01). Crop grain yield stability showed significant differences between medians. In pasture TGDM, the differences between stability medians were not significant, but the technique still separated medians into stable and unstable groupings. This production Stability Index has the potential to be used by farmers to manage spatial variability in mixed farming systems by identifying homogenous areas within a paddock for investigation/amelioration and can also separate out areas of either spatial and/or temporal instability for specific management strategies.

中文翻译：

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绘制混合农业系统中生产的时空稳定性图：综合作物和牧草生产力以协助管理可变性的指数

虽然精准农业 (PA) 技术广泛用于种植系统，但这些技术在混合农业系统中受到的关注较少。关于混合农业系统中牧场空间变异的性质、范围和时间稳定性以及管理这种变异的可行性知之甚少。本文介绍了一种基于作物谷物产量和牧场总绿色干物质 (TGDM) 产量随时间变化的稳定性指数的创建技术，该技术使用澳大利亚两个气候带的高分辨率空间数据。四个生产力区域用于表征稳定性指数：高且稳定、高且不稳定、低且稳定、低且不稳定。映射索引显示了每个围场的空间和时间特征的位置和大小。稳定带的特征通常与土壤质地等级相对应。使用 Kruskal-Wallis 单向方差分析测试稳定性指数显示，谷物产量和牧场 TGDM 的高产和低产类别的中位数显着不同（p < 0.01）。作物籽粒产量稳定性显示出中位数之间的显着差异。在牧场 TGDM 中，稳定性中位数之间的差异不显着，但该技术仍将中位数分为稳定组和不稳定组。该生产稳定性指数有可能被农民用来通过识别围场内的同质区域进行调查/改善来管理混合农业系统的空间变异性，并且还可以为特定的管理策略分离出空间和/或时间不稳定性的区域。