The delineation of management zones (MZs) has been suggested as a solution to mitigate adverse impacts of soil variability on potato tuber yield. This study quantified the spatial patterns of variability in soil and crop properties to delineate MZs for site-specific soil fertility characterization of potato fields through proximal sensing of fields. Grid sampling strategy was adopted to collect soil and crop data from two potato fields in Prince Edward Island (PEI). DUALEM-2 sensor, Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR-300), GreenSeeker were used to collect soil ground conductivity parameter horizontal coplanar geometry (HCP), soil moisture content (θ), and normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI), respectively. Soil organic matter (SOM), soil pH, phosphorous (P), potash (K), iron (Fe), lime index (LI), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) were determined from soil samples collected from each grid. Stepwise regression shortlisted the major properties of soil and crop that explained 71 to 86% of within-field variability. The cluster analysis grouped the soil and crop data into three zones, termed as excellent, medium, and poor at a 40% similarity level. The coefficient of variation and the interpolated maps characterized least to moderate variability of soil fertility parameters, except for HCP and K that were highly variable. The results of multiple means comparison indicated that the tuber yield and HCP were significantly different in all MZs. The significant relationship between HCP and yield suggested that the ground conductivity data could be used to develop MZs for site-specific fertilization in potato fields similar to those used in this study.

中文翻译：

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通过马铃薯田近距离感测确定土壤肥力特征的特定地点管理区

建议划定管理区（MZs），以减轻土壤变异对马铃薯块茎产量的不利影响。这项研究量化了土壤和作物特性变化的空间格局，以通过对田间的近距离感应来描绘马铃薯田地特定土壤肥力特征的MZ。采用网格采样策略从爱德华王子岛（PEI）的两个马铃薯田收集土壤和作物数据。使用DUALEM-2传感器，时域反射仪（TDR-300）和GreenSeeker分别收集土壤地面电导率参数水平共面几何（HCP），土壤含水量（θ）和归一化植被指数（NDVI）。土壤有机质（SOM），土壤pH，磷（P），钾肥（K），铁（Fe），石灰指数（LI），从每个网格收集的土壤样品中确定阳离子交换能力（CEC）。逐步回归法筛选了土壤和作物的主要特性，这些特性解释了71％至86％的田间变异。聚类分析将土壤和农作物数据分为三个区域，分别以40％的相似度被称为优，中和差。除了HCP和K高度可变外，变异系数和内插图至少对土壤肥力参数的中等变异性具有特征。多重均值比较的结果表明，在所有MZ中块茎产量和HCP均显着不同。