Combining Proximal and Remote Sensors in Spatial Prediction of Five Micronutrients and Soil Texture in a Case Study at Farmland Scale in Southeastern Brazil

Despite the increasing adoption of proximal sensors worldwide, rare works have coupled proximal with remotely sensed data to spatially predict soil properties. This study evaluated the contribution of proximal and remotely sensed data to predict soil texture and available contents of micronutrients using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry, magnetic susceptibility (MS), and terrain attributes (TA) via random forest algorithm. Samples were collected in Brazil from soils with high, moderate, and low weathering degrees (Oxisols, Ultisols, Inceptisols, respectively), and analyzed by pXRF and MS and for texture and available micronutrients. Seventeen TA were generated from a digital elevation model of 12.5 m spatial resolution. Predictions were made via: (i) TA; (ii) TA + pXRF; (iii) TA + MS; (iv) TA + MS + pXRF; (v) MS + pXRF; and (vi) pXRF; and validated via root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R-2). The best predictions were achieved by: pXRF dataset alone for available Cu (R-2 = 0.80) and clay (R-2 = 0.67) content; MS + pXRF dataset for available Fe (R-2 = 0.68) and sand (R-2 = 0.69) content; TA + pXRF + MS dataset for available Mn (R-2 = 0.87) content. PXRF data were key to the best predictions. Soil property maps created from these predictions supported the adoption of sustainable soil management practices.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the contribution of proximal and remotely sensed data in predicting soil texture and available micronutrient contents. The results showed that portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) data played a key role in achieving the best predictions.