Soil pH Mapping of Pineapple Crop: A Feasibility Study using Aerial Photo

Abstract

Mapping and monitoring of soils properties are crucial as they directly affect natural resource management and agricultural activities. Mapping of soil properties at certain interval could ensure sufficient provision of macronutrients for optimum agricultural produce. The use of drone with different imaging capabilities is fairly wide, overcoming time constraints and laborious laboratory analysis. The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate the application of a standard camera drone to predict peat soil pH of pineapple crop. For the first time, prediction of soil pH is based on the square of Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI), and is then compared with laboratory-analysed soil pH. Correlation between the two parameters is favourable with R-squared value of about 51%, which compares well with the literature. A considerably large soil sampling may be considered for future study to obtain improved prediction irrespective of soil variability.