Implementation of artificial intelligence and multivariate analysis to analyze electrical and physicochemical properties of seawater-affected agriculture soil

The impact of salinity on soil has become a major environmental challenge due to global warming and urbanization. The electrical properties of soil are intricately influenced by physicochemical properties, salinity levels, moisture content, and geological features of the land. This work aimed to evaluate the electrical and chemical properties of the agricultural, riparian zone, and near-seafront salt marsh soils using a PC-based automated microwave X-band bench method at frequency 9.55 GHz with ‘infinite sample’ technique. Also, Chemical properties such as pH, sodium absorption ratio (SAR), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), organic carbon (OC), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn), and physical properties such as porosity (PO), particle and bulk density (PD and BD) of soil samples were measured using laboratory method in triplicate. Furthermore, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were employed to classify and differentiate samples based on their properties, providing insights into underlying patterns and groupings. To accurately estimate the dielectric constant and dielectric loss, we implemented Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model using a feed-forward back propagation. To evaluate the performance and predictive accuracy of the developed models, statistical metrics such as Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (R²) were used. The R² and RMSE values of the dielectric constant obtained by the ANN model with PO, BD, PD, P, OC, K, and ESP as entered variables were 0.99 and 9.23 × 10⁻⁰⁴, and for dielectric loss, were 0.98 and 2.93 × 10⁻⁰², respectively. For MLR, the R² value of the dielectric constant and dielectric loss was 0.88 and 0.80. SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis, combined with an ANN model, revealed that the DC is influenced by the Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP), while DL minutely affected. Thus, ANN and SHAP accurately predicted dielectric properties of soil, offering a nondestructive and efficient approach for monitoring salinity effects on soil health.