Soil Electrical Conductivity Mapping

Summary:

• Soil electrical conductivity (EC) mapping is a simple, inexpensive tool that precision farmers can use to quickly and accurately characterize soil differences within crop production fields.

• Soil EC is a measurement that correlates to soil properties affecting crop productivity, including soil texture, cation exchange capacity (CEC), drainage conditions, organic matter (O.M.) level, salinity, and subsoil characteristics.

• With field verification, soil EC can be related to specific soil properties that affect crop yield, such as topsoil depth, pH, salt concentrations, and water-holding capacity.

• Soil EC maps often visually correspond to patterns on yield maps and can help explain yield variation. The EC data can also be correlated with yield, elevation, plant population, surface hydrology, or remotely sensed data with a suitable geographic information system (GIS).

• Other uses of soil EC maps include guiding directed soil sampling, assigning variable rates of crop inputs, fine-tuning Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soil maps, improving the placement and interpretation of on-farm tests, salinity diagnosis, and planning drainage remediation.