IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v9y2019i4p80-d224292.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Integrated Approach to Assessing the Soil Quality and Nutritional Status of Large and Long-Term Cultivated Rice Agro-Ecosystems

Author

Listed:
  • Vassilis Aschonitis

    (Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.) DEMETER, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Christos G. Karydas

    (Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Miltos Iatrou

    (Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Spiros Mourelatos

    (Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Irini Metaxa

    (Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.) DEMETER, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Panagiotis Tziachris

    (Soil and Water Resources Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization (H.A.O.) DEMETER, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • George Iatrou

    (Ecodevelopment S.A., P.O. Box 2420, Filyro, 57010 Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop an integrated approach to soil quality and fertility assessment in high-yielding rice agro-ecosystems threatened due to overexploitation of soil resources by intensive agriculture. The proposed approach is implemented considering representative pilot fields allocated throughout a study area based on the assumption that soils of similar general properties present a similar nutritional status due to common long-term management practices. The analysis includes (a) object-based image analysis for land zonation, (b) hot-spot analysis for sampling scheme evaluation, (c) setting of critical thresholds in soil parameters for detecting nutrient deficiencies and soil quality problems, and (d) Redundancy Analysis, TITAN analysis, and multiple regression for identifying individual or combined effects of general soil properties (e.g., organic matter, soil texture, pH, salinity) or non-soil parameters (e.g., topographic parameters) on soil nutrients. The approach was applied using as a case study the large rice agro-ecosystem of Thessaloniki plain in Greece considering some site specificities (e.g., high rice yields, calcareous soils) when setting the critical thresholds in soil parameters. The results showed that (a) 62.5% of the pilot fields’ coverage has a simultaneous deficiency in Zn, Mn, and B, (b) organic matter (OM) was the most significant descriptor of nutrients’ variance, and its cold spots (clustered regions of low OM values) showed important overlapping with the cold spots of K, Mg, Zn, Mn, Cu, and B, (c) a higher rate of availability increase in P, K, Mg, Mn, Zn, Fe, Cu, and B was observed when the OM ranged between 2 and 3%, and (d) the multiple regression models that assess K and P concentrations based on general soil properties showed an adequate performance, allowing their use for general assessment of their soil concentrations in the fields of the whole agro-ecosystem.

Suggested Citation

  • Vassilis Aschonitis & Christos G. Karydas & Miltos Iatrou & Spiros Mourelatos & Irini Metaxa & Panagiotis Tziachris & George Iatrou, 2019. "An Integrated Approach to Assessing the Soil Quality and Nutritional Status of Large and Long-Term Cultivated Rice Agro-Ecosystems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-25, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:4:p:80-:d:224292
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/4/80/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/4/80/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicolas Titeux & Marc Dufrène & Jean-Paul Jacob & Marc Paquay & Pierre Defourny, 2004. "Multivariate analysis of a fine-scale breeding bird atlas using a geographical information system and partial canonical correspondence analysis: environmental and spatial effects," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/230790, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Corentin Leroux & Hazaël Jones & Léo Pichon & Serge Guillaume & Julien Lamour & James Taylor & Olivier Naud & Thomas Crestey & Jean-Luc Lablee & Bruno Tisseyre, 2018. "GeoFIS: An Open Source, Decision-Support Tool for Precision Agriculture Data," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-21, May.
    3. José Bernardo, 2005. "Intrinsic credible regions: An objective Bayesian approach to interval estimation," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 14(2), pages 317-384, December.
    4. Nathaniel D. Mueller & James S. Gerber & Matt Johnston & Deepak K. Ray & Navin Ramankutty & Jonathan A. Foley, 2012. "Closing yield gaps through nutrient and water management," Nature, Nature, vol. 490(7419), pages 254-257, October.
    5. Shilong Piao & Philippe Ciais & Yao Huang & Zehao Shen & Shushi Peng & Junsheng Li & Liping Zhou & Hongyan Liu & Yuecun Ma & Yihui Ding & Pierre Friedlingstein & Chunzhen Liu & Kun Tan & Yongqiang Yu , 2010. "The impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7311), pages 43-51, September.
    6. Antonopoulos, Vassilis Z., 2010. "Modelling of water and nitrogen balances in the ponded water and soil profile of rice fields in Northern Greece," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 321-330, December.
    7. David Tilman & Kenneth G. Cassman & Pamela A. Matson & Rosamond Naylor & Stephen Polasky, 2002. "Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6898), pages 671-677, August.
    8. Arthur Getis & J. Keith Ord, 2010. "The Analysis of Spatial Association by Use of Distance Statistics," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Sergio J. Rey (ed.), Perspectives on Spatial Data Analysis, chapter 0, pages 127-145, Springer.
    9. Rattan Lal, 2015. "Restoring Soil Quality to Mitigate Soil Degradation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-21, May.
    10. Patricio Grassini & Kent M. Eskridge & Kenneth G. Cassman, 2013. "Distinguishing between yield advances and yield plateaus in historical crop production trends," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Georgios K. Ntinas & Filippos Bantis & Athanasios Koukounaras & Panagiotis G. Kougias, 2021. "Exploitation of Liquid Digestate as the Sole Nutrient Source for Floating Hydroponic Cultivation of Baby Lettuce ( Lactuca sativa ) in Greenhouses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Miltiadis Iatrou & Christos Karydas & George Iatrou & Ioannis Pitsiorlas & Vassilis Aschonitis & Iason Raptis & Stelios Mpetas & Kostas Kravvas & Spiros Mourelatos, 2021. "Topdressing Nitrogen Demand Prediction in Rice Crop Using Machine Learning Systems," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhongen Niu & Huimin Yan & Fang Liu, 2020. "Decreasing Cropping Intensity Dominated the Negative Trend of Cropland Productivity in Southern China in 2000–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Thomas M. Koutsos & Georgios C. Menexes & Andreas P. Mamolos, 2021. "The Use of Crop Yield Autocorrelation Data as a Sustainable Approach to Adjust Agronomic Inputs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Tiziano Gomiero, 2016. "Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-41, March.
    4. Minghao Bai & Shenbei Zhou & Ting Tang, 2022. "A Reconstruction of Irrigated Cropland Extent in China from 2000 to 2019 Using the Synergy of Statistics and Satellite-Based Datasets," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, September.
    5. Zhang, Bangbang & Li, Xian & Chen, Haibin & Niu, Wenhao & Kong, Xiangbin & Yu, Qiang & Zhao, Minjuan & Xia, Xianli, 2022. "Identifying opportunities to close yield gaps in China by use of certificated cultivars to estimate potential productivity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    6. Dapeng WANG & Liang ZHENG & Songdong GU & Yuefeng SHI & Long LIANG & Fanqiao MENG & Yanbin GUO & Xiaotang JU & Wenliang WU, 2018. "Soil nitrate accumulation and leaching in conventional, optimized and organic cropping systems," Plant, Soil and Environment, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 64(4), pages 156-163.
    7. Zhuang, Minghao & Liu, Yize & Yang, Yi & Zhang, Qingsong & Ying, Hao & Yin, Yulong & Cui, Zhenling, 2022. "The sustainability of staple crops in China can be substantially improved through localized strategies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Zou, Haiyang & Fan, Junliang & Zhang, Fucang & Xiang, Youzhen & Wu, Lifeng & Yan, Shicheng, 2020. "Optimization of drip irrigation and fertilization regimes for high grain yield, crop water productivity and economic benefits of spring maize in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    9. Xinyi Li & Xiong Wang & Xiaoqing Song, 2021. "Impacts of Agricultural Capitalization on Regional Paddy Field Change: A Production-Factor Substitution Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-18, February.
    10. Gao, Yukun & Zhao, Hongfang & Zhao, Chuang & Hu, Guohua & Zhang, Han & Liu, Xue & Li, Nan & Hou, Haiyan & Li, Xia, 2022. "Spatial and temporal variations of maize and wheat yield gaps and their relationships with climate in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    11. Gou, Fang & Yin, Wen & Hong, Yu & van der Werf, Wopke & Chai, Qiang & Heerink, Nico & van Ittersum, Martin K., 2017. "On yield gaps and yield gains in intercropping: Opportunities for increasing grain production in northwest China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 96-105.
    12. Min Yang & Quan Long & Wenli Li & Zhichao Wang & Xinhua He & Jie Wang & Xiaozhong Wang & Huaye Xiong & Chaoyi Guo & Guancheng Zhang & Bin Luo & Jun Qiu & Xinping Chen & Fusuo Zhang & Xiaojun Shi & Yue, 2020. "Mapping the Environmental Cost of a Typical Citrus-Producing County in China: Hotspot and Optimization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, February.
    13. Matteo Coronese & Martina Occelli & Francesco Lamperti & Andrea Roventini, 2024. "Towards sustainable agriculture: behaviors, spatial dynamics and policy in an evolutionary agent-based model," LEM Papers Series 2024/05, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    14. Zhang, Chun & Dong, Zhaoyun & Guo, Qin & Hu, Zhilin & Li, Juan & Wei, Ting & Ding, Ruixia & Cai, Tie & Ren, Xiaolong & Han, Qingfang & Zhang, Peng & Jia, Zhikuan, 2022. "Ridge–furrow rainwater harvesting combined with supplementary irrigation: Water-saving and yield-maintaining mode for winter wheat in a semiarid region based on 8-year in-situ experiment," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    15. Lintao Chen & Xiaohong Chen & Wei Pan & Ying Wang & Yongle An & Yue Gu & Haihan Liu & Fan Yang, 2023. "Assessing Rural Production Space Quality and Influencing Factors in Typical Grain-Producing Areas of Northeastern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-15, September.
    16. Hepburn, Cameron & Teytelboym, Alexander & Cohen, Francois, 2018. "Is Natural Capital Really Substitutable?," INET Oxford Working Papers 2018-12, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    17. Christophe Lecarpentier & Loïc Pagès & Céline Richard-Molard, 2021. "Genotypic diversity and plasticity of root system architecture to nitrogen availability in oilseed rape," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, May.
    18. Qiu, Bingwen & Jian, Zeyu & Yang, Peng & Tang, Zhenghong & Zhu, Xiaolin & Duan, Mingjie & Yu, Qiangyi & Chen, Xuehong & Zhang, Miao & Tu, Ping & Xu, Weiming & Zhao, Zhiyuan, 2024. "Unveiling grain production patterns in China (2005–2020) towards targeted sustainable intensification," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    19. Zhang, He & Tao, Fulu & Zhou, Guangsheng, 2019. "Potential yields, yield gaps, and optimal agronomic management practices for rice production systems in different regions of China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 100-112.
    20. Yu, Wenjia & Yue, Yaojie & Wang, Fangxiong, 2022. "The spatial-temporal coupling pattern of grain yield and fertilization in the North China plain," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:9:y:2019:i:4:p:80-:d:224292. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.