Delineation and Analysis of Site-Specific Management Zones

DELINEATION AND ANALYSIS OF SITE-SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT ZONES*

J.J. Fridgen
Dept. of Agronomy
University of Missouri

C.W. Fraisse, N.R. Kitchen, K.A. Sudduth
USDA-Agricultural Research Service
Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research Unit

Columbia, MO, USA

ABSTRACT

Site-specific management requires the development of agronomic strategies for sub-field management zones that are subject to a unique combination of potential yield-limiting factors. Creation of unique management areas has focused mainly on soil type surveys, yield mapping, and soil fertility management based on grid soil sampling. This paper discusses the use of the fuzzy k-means unsupervised continuous clustering algorithm to delineate within-field management zones using soil and field characteristics (i.e., landscape features). Soil electrical conductivity and topographic attributes such as elevation and slope measured in two claypan soil fields were used for the clustering process. Measures of cluster performance indicated no advantage of dividing these fields into more than four or five management zones. Classification using this procedure explained 10 to 35% of the variation in grain yield. Year to year differences in the appropriate number of management zones was attributed to weather and crop type.

* Presented at the Second International Conference on Geospatial Information in Agriculture and Forestry,
Lake Buena Vista, Florida 10-12 Jan. 2000.

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