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Imprint
Non-invasive characterization of plant stress at the field scale
Project
Project code: 0315532A
Contract period: 01.04.2010
- 30.09.2013
Purpose of research: Basic research
Soil electrical conductivity (EC) is a sensor-based measurement that is recognized as the most valuable indirect indicator of soil physical and chemical parameters (Sudduth et al. 2001; Sudduth et al., 2003; Corwin 2008). Due to the fact that the geological underground is heterogeneous, geophysics can only attempt to represent an imaginary homogeneous half-space of the real world. To represent an average over a certain volume the term “apparent” has to be introduced. Soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) is controlled by a combination of soil properties, such as texture, soil water content, soil salinity, clay content, clay mineralogy, cation exchange capacity (CEC), concentration of dissolved electrolytes, organic carbon, plant available nutrients, pH, bulk density, soil temperature, and soil type (Sudduth et al. 2003; Gebbers et al. 2009; Saey et al. 2009). If most of variability in ECa is influenced by single dominant factor, like salinity in saline soils, conductivity measurements can be used as direct calibration approach to provide indirect measurements of this soil property (Sudduth et al., 2001; Saey et al., 2009). Under temperate conditions electrical conductivity is mainly controlled by soil texture, clay content, CEC, and water content (Sudduth et al., 2003; Lück and Gebbers 2007; Gebbers et al., 2009).
In geophysics, approaches based on galvanic, capacitive, and inductive coupling are used to determine ECa (Lück and Gebbers 2007). The most common methods to measure the apparent electrical conductivity of soil are electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and electromagnetic induction (EMI). To study patterns of conductivity it is preferred to measured with inductive techniques since the response is usually proportional to conductivity and inductive coupling also enables measurements under soil conditions where ERT would have problems (McNeil 1980; Kolodziey et al., 2005).
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Production
- Soil science
