Precision agriculture applied to soybean: Part I - Delineation of management zones

The knowledge of the correlation between the spatial variability of soil attributes and crop yield is necessary for defining precision agriculture practices.The objective of the present study was to characterize soybean yield by mapping the spatial variability of the soil texture and apparent electrical conductivity for the delineation of management zones.The study was conducted in a field located in the Brazilian Savannah.The soybean yield, soil texture, and apparent electrical conductivity of an Oxisol were analyzed and mapped.The management zones were generated using the data from the spatial dependence of the mapped variables.The soil map that correlated best with the yield map was determined.The management zones were defined using the apparent soil electrical conductivity with the highest Kappa coefficient (0.30) for the soybean yield.The results demonstrate the potential utility of apparent soil electrical conductivity map for agriculture precision.