Soil properties and landscape factors affecting maize yield under wet spring conditions in eastern Canada.
Authors: | Parent, Annie-Claude; Bélanger, Marie-Christine; Parent, Léon-Étienne; Santerre, Rock; Viau, Alain; Anctil, François; Bolinder, Martin Anders; Tremblay, Catherine |
Abstract: | Spatial variation in soil properties is attributable in part to redistribution of moisture and topsoil and to soil compaction associated with water-logging. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) can define topography at a fine scale where these processes may occur as related to field landscape positions such as footslope, depression, crest, and plateau. Our objective was to relate micro-relief (slope, elevation) to soil physical properties and to maize (Zea mays L.) yield under wet spring conditions and delineate soil management units in the field. The experimental 9-ha field was located in the St-Lawrence Lowlands, Quebec, Canada. A topographical survey was conducted using an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) equipped with high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers sampling 3-D coordinates to generate a grid as fine as 3 m. The GPS sampling method was compared to a total station (TS) for land survey on a 20-m grid. Soil samples and grain yield were collected and geo-referenced on a 30-m grid. Kriging, mapping, and correlation analyses were conducted. Topographic data sampled using a GPS receiver embedded on an ATV were accurate (<10 cm) compared to TS. Soil compaction indexes (bulk density, clay and clay/OM ratio) were the most closely related to yield (r2=-0.57 to -0.60). An independent dataset across the St-Lawrence Lowlands indicated that maize yield exceeding 10 t ha-1 in 1999 and 2000 was obtained with clay/OM ratios less than 12. The DEM and clay/OM ratio distribution maps were useful to locate five landscape positions of clay accumulation, water-logging, and soil compaction, forming two soil management units. In the footslope and depression management units, specific allocation of organic amendments may increase maize yield. |
Document Type: | Article de recherche |
Issue Date: | 19 November 2007 |
Open Access Date: | Restricted access |
Document version: | VoR |
Permalink: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/12474 |
This document was published in: | Biosystems engineering, Vol. 99 (1), 134–144 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2007.10.006 Elsevier |
Alternative version: | 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2007.10.006 |
Collection: | Articles publiés dans des revues avec comité de lecture |
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