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Proximal sensing of soil biological activity for precision agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2017

V. Adamchuk ,
F. Reumont ,
J. Kaur ,
J. Whalen  and
N. Adamchuk-Chala
V. Adamchuk*
Affiliation:
McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada
F. Reumont
Affiliation:
McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada
J. Kaur
Affiliation:
Centre for Oil Sands Sustainability, Edmonton, AB, T5G 3K4, Canada
J. Whalen
Affiliation:
McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada
N. Adamchuk-Chala
Affiliation:
Institute of Microbiology and Virology of Zabolotnyi, Kyiv, 03143, Ukraine
*
†E-mail: viacheslav.adamchuk@mcgill.ca
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Abstract

There is growing interest in monitoring soil biological health to complement the traditional evaluation of soil physical and chemical characteristics in agricultural fields. Activity of soil microorganisms mediates many essential soil processes that affect fertility, and, therefore, essential to the successful adoption of precision agriculture. However, there are technical limitations to cost-effective monitoring of spatial and temporal dynamics of soil biological activity across agricultural landscapes. This paper summarizes three consecutive studies on in situ measurement of soil biological activity. The first study reveals spatial heterogeneity of microbial population growth in three agricultural fields using bio-films. In the second study, microbiological activity was analyzed using a substrate-induced respiration technique. This technique was evaluated through a series of soil toxicity experiments that involved a comparison of fresh and autoclaved soil samples. Finally, the aim of the third study was to develop a portable instrumented system to evaluate carbon dioxide concentrations in soil by extracting air stored within the soil pores. This instrument was tested under various conditions to quantify the effects of soil moisture, compaction and presence of glucose (artificially increased microbial respiration). Optimization of the discussed techniques will allow for detailed mapping of these indices of soil biological health and their interactions with the physical and chemical environment at any specific point in time.

Keywords

Soil respirationbiosensingcarbon dioxideproximal sensingbiological activity
Type
Soil Sensing and Variability
Information
Advances in Animal Biosciences , Volume 8 , Special Issue 2: Papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Agriculture (ECPA 2017), John McIntyre Centre, Edinburgh, UK, July 16–20 2017 , July 2017 , pp. 406 - 411
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

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