Delineation of management zones based on soil physical attributes in an irrigated guava field in the Semi-Arid region, Brazil

摘要

Delineating management zones based on soil physical attributes may be an important technique in order to optimize the use of irrigated water and fertilizers in the irrigated agriculture poles in the semi-arid region of Brazil. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: (1) To determine the spatial dependence of some soil physical attributes; and (2) To identify management zones using fuzzy c-means clustering analysis in a guava field in the semi-arid region. The experimental site was structured in a grid of 99 referenced points spaced 4 m, which correspond to the number of guava trees in an irrigated field in the semi-arid region of Brazil. Undisturbed and disturbed soil cores were taken from the 0 to 0.2 m layer in each point. Soil total porosity (TP), soil bulk density (BD), and soil texture were determined. Additionally, soil penetration resistance (PR) was measured using a dynamic hammer penetrometer. Statistical analyses consisted of data description and geostatistics. Management Zone Analyst software was used to carry out the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. The spatial dependence of soil texture and BD was confirmed. It was possible to delineate management zones based on soil physical attributes for site-specific irrigation and nutrient management and clay content and BD were the best attributes to delineate management zones in the study area.