Approach of developing spatial distribution maps of soil nutrients

Abstract

One of the major components of precision agriculture is the precision fertilization. The basic principle of precision fertilization is to adjust the fertilizer input according to the specific circumstances or properties of soils in each location for the least waste and the highest profit. The paper presents a feasible approach for developing the spatial distribution map of soil nutrients based on a kind of GIS software, the ArcView. According to the field sampling data and localities measured by GPS a database of soil nutrients was set up. Using the semi variance function and the Kriging interpolations algorithm upon geostatistics theory the field data were analyzed, and then the graphic editor of the ArcView was applied to produce soil nutrient spatial distribution map, which describes the precision of the algorithm and distribution range of soil nutrients. This research is a methodological contribution to precision agriculture and lays the ground for precise application of fertilizers. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.