ABSTRACT The interest in new techniques to support digital soil mapping (DSM) is increasing. Numerous studies pointed out that the measure of magnetic susceptibility (MS) can be extremely useful in the identification of properties related with factors and processes of soil formation, applied to soil mapping. This study addressed the effectiveness of magnetic soil susceptibility to identify and facilitate the distinction of different pedogenic environments of a representative hillslope in the highland Planalto Médio in the state of Rio Grande […]

ABSTRACT: The use of management zones has ensured yield success for numerous agricultural crops. In spite of this potential, studies applying precision agricultural techniques to cacao plantations are scarce or almost nonexistent. The aim of the present study was to delineate management zones for cacao crop, create maps combining soil physical properties and cacao tree yield, and identify what combinations best fit within the soil chemical properties. The study was conducted in 2014 on a cacao plantation in a Nitossolo […]

ABSTRACT It is often difficult for pedologists to “see” topsoils indicating differences in properties such as soil particle size. Satellite images are important for obtaining quick information for large areas. However, mapping extensive areas of bare soil using a single image is difficult since most areas are usually covered by vegetation. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a strategy to determine bare soil areas by fusing multi-temporal satellite images and classifying them according to soil textures. Three […]

ABSTRACT Digital soil mapping (DSM) permits continuous mapping soil types and properties through raster formats considering variation within soil class, in contrast to the traditional mapping that only considers spatial variation of soils at the boundaries of delineated polygons. The objective of this study was to compare the performance of SoLIM (Soil Land Inference Model) for two sets of environmental variables on digital mapping of saturated hydraulic conductivity and solum depth (A + B horizons) and to apply the best […]

ABSTRACT Experimental statistical procedures used in almost all scientific papers are fundamental for clearer interpretation of the results of experiments conducted in agrarian sciences. However, incorrect use of these procedures can lead the researcher to incorrect or incomplete conclusions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the experiments and quality of the use of statistical procedures in soil science in order to promote better use of statistical procedures. For that purpose, 200 articles, published between […]

ABSTRACT Correctly interpreting soil fertility and its spatial distribution within an area helps to lessen losses and environmental effects associated with agriculture, to optimize fertilization and liming practices. This study is aimed at using concepts and methods from spatial and temporal analyses to soil fertility and to develop a fuzzy classification methodology in an effort to define input application zones in three conilon coffee harvests. An irregular network with georeferenced points was built in the central region of the farm. […]

ABSTRACT Terrain attributes (TAs) derived from digital elevation models (DEMs) are frequently used in digital soil mapping (DSM) as auxiliary covariates in the construction of prediction models. The DEMs and information extracted from it may be limited with regard to the spatial resolution and error magnitude, and can differ in the behavior of terrain features. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality and limitations of free DEM data and to evaluate a topographic survey (TS) underlying the […]

ABSTRACT Knowledge of soils is increasingly important for their correct use in agriculture, in urban growth, and in conservation of natural resources, among other purposes. However, there is a lack of qualified professionals for pedological characterization and mapping, particularly at scales of greater detail. Due to this shortage and due to advances in computational tools and remote sensing, Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) arose in order to assist and expedite pedological survey activities. Thus, the aim of this study was to […]

ABSTRACT In recent years, geotechnologies as remote and proximal sensing and attributes derived from digital terrain elevation models indicated to be very useful for the description of soil variability. However, these information sources are rarely used together. Therefore, a methodology for assessing and specialize soil classes using the information obtained from remote/proximal sensing, GIS and technical knowledge has been applied and evaluated. Two areas of study, in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, totaling approximately 28.000 ha were used for […]

The production of soil maps through digital soil mapping (DSM) techniques may be hampered due to the lack of traditional reference soil maps. In these situations, the tacit knowledge of the field soil scientist can be used for manual delineation of soil mapping units (MUs) based on generation of a map of occurrence of soil types predicted by DSM. The objective of this study was to evaluate and to compare soil maps generated by two methods. One method, called “direct […]