An Integrated Approach to Assessing the Soil Quality and Nutritional Status of Large and Long-Term Cultivated Rice Agro-Ecosystems

Vassilis Aschonitis, Christos G. Karydas, Miltos Iatrou, Spiros Mourelatos, Irini Metaxa, Panagiotis Tziachris and George Iatrou
Additional contact information
Vassilis Aschonitis: Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.) DEMETER, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Christos G. Karydas: Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece
Miltos Iatrou: Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece
Spiros Mourelatos: Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece
Irini Metaxa: Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.) DEMETER, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Panagiotis Tziachris: Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.) DEMETER, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
George Iatrou: Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece

Agriculture, 2019, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: The aim of this study is to develop an integrated approach to soil quality and fertility assessment in high-yielding rice agro-ecosystems threatened due to overexploitation of soil resources by intensive agriculture. The proposed approach is implemented considering representative pilot fields allocated throughout a study area based on the assumption that soils of similar general properties present a similar nutritional status due to common long-term management practices. The analysis includes (a) object-based image analysis for land zonation, (b) hot-spot analysis for sampling scheme evaluation, (c) setting of critical thresholds in soil parameters for detecting nutrient deficiencies and soil quality problems, and (d) Redundancy Analysis, TITAN analysis, and multiple regression for identifying individual or combined effects of general soil properties (e.g., organic matter, soil texture, pH, salinity) or non-soil parameters (e.g., topographic parameters) on soil nutrients. The approach was applied using as a case study the large rice agro-ecosystem of Thessaloniki plain in Greece considering some site specificities (e.g., high rice yields, calcareous soils) when setting the critical thresholds in soil parameters. The results showed that (a) 62.5% of the pilot fields’ coverage has a simultaneous deficiency in Zn, Mn, and B, (b) organic matter (OM) was the most significant descriptor of nutrients’ variance, and its cold spots (clustered regions of low OM values) showed important overlapping with the cold spots of K, Mg, Zn, Mn, Cu, and B, (c) a higher rate of availability increase in P, K, Mg, Mn, Zn, Fe, Cu, and B was observed when the OM ranged between 2 and 3%, and (d) the multiple regression models that assess K and P concentrations based on general soil properties showed an adequate performance, allowing their use for general assessment of their soil concentrations in the fields of the whole agro-ecosystem.

Keywords: rice agro-ecosystems; nutrient deficiency; soil quality; critical thresholds; environmental gradients; precision agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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