Top Soil EC Soil Mapping
The Top Soil EC is used in agriculture practices for creating maps for management in seed selection, multiple variety placement, variable rate nutrient application, overlay in yield maps, drainage decisions, etc. The following maps are from Northwest Iowa.
The above maps show the correlation
that an accurate soils map has with yield. Some of the reasons for this could be
characteristics such as
water holding capacity of the soil, basic productivity of the soil and
emergence problems due to soil characteristics. As a general rule, EC
soil
maps in the MISS trade area correlate closely with yield maps as the second
set of figures also show. Therefore, using EC soil maps are a very useful
tool in agronomic management for change of seeding rates, using different
varieties of seed, applying different amounts of chemical or fertilizer or
any situation that calls for soil information. The USDA/NRCS maps are still
very valuable for providing information on productivity, permeability and
other soil type characteristics.
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| Yield Map |
EC Soil Map |
NRCS Soil Map |
Generally, the lower the
EC reading the more sand content and, thus, poorer water holding capacity.
The higher the reading the more clay content and higher water holding
capacity; therefore, the soil is usually more productive. However,
especially in glacial till soil, the highest readings are not necessarily
the most productive. These soils can have very fine clay particles that
have very poor internal drainage causing lower productivity.
MISS has mapped a number of fields
under very wet and very dry conditions. The resulting maps are slightly
different, as expected, but are close enough in results that either map
could be used for creating management zones. MISS uses EC technology in the
spring and summer when the soil has completely thawed and are at
preferred planting conditions.
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Top Soil EC.jpg)
