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    Rapid determination of lime requirement by mid-infrared spectroscopy: A promising approach for precision agriculture
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2019) Leenen, Matthias; Welp, Gerhard; Gebbers, Robin; Pätzold, Stefan
    Mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS) has proven to be a cost-effective, high throughput measurement technique for soil analysis. After multivariate calibration mid-infrared spectra can be used to predict various soil properties, some of which are related to lime requirement (LR). The objective of this study was to test the performance of MIRS for recommending variable rate liming on typical Central European soils in view of precision agriculture applications. In Germany, LR of arable topsoils is commonly derived from the parameters organic matter content (SOM), clay content, and soil pH (CaCl2) as recommended by the Association of German Agricultural Analytical and Research Institutes (VDLUFA). We analysed a total of 458 samples from six locations across Germany, which all revealed large within-field soil heterogeneity. Calcareous topsoils were observed at some positions of three locations (79 samples). To exclude such samples from LR determination, peak height at 2513 cm−1 of the MIR spectrum was used for identification. Spectra-based identification was accurate for carbonate contents > 0.5%. Subsequent LR derivation (LRSPP) from MIRS-PLSR predictions of SOM, clay, and pH (CaCl2) for non-calcareous soil samples using the VDLUFA look-up tables was successful for all locations (R2 = 0.54–0.82; RMSE = 857–1414 kg CaO ha−1). Alternatively, we tested direct LR prediction (LRDP) by MIRS-PLSR and also achieved satisfactory performance (R2 = 0.52–0.77; RMSE = 811–1420 kg CaO ha−1; RPD = 1.44–2.08). Further improvement was achieved by refining the VDLUFA tables towards a stepless algorithm. It can be concluded that MIRS provides a promising approach for precise LR estimation on heterogeneous arable fields. Large sample numbers can be processed with low effort which is an essential prerequisite for variable rate liming in precision agriculture. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA
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    Validation study for measuring absorption and reduced scattering coefficients by means of laser-induced backscattering imaging
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2019) Zude-Sasse, Manuela; Hashim, Norhashila; Hass, Roland; Polley, Nabarun; Regen, Christian
    Decoupling of optical properties appears challenging, but vital to get better insight of the relationship between light and fruit attributes. In this study, nine solid phantoms capturing the ranges of absorption (μa) and reduced scattering (μs’) coefficients in fruit were analysed non-destructively using laser-induced backscattering imaging (LLBI) at 1060 nm. Data analysis of LLBI was carried out on the diffuse reflectance, attenuation profile obtained by means of Farrell's diffusion theory either calculating μa [cm−1] and μs’ [cm−1] in one fitting step or fitting only one optical variable and providing the other one from a destructive analysis. The nondestructive approach was approved when calculating one unknown coefficient non-destructively, while no ability of the method was found to analysis both, μa and μs’, non-destructively. Setting μs’ according to destructive photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy and fitting μa resulted in root mean square error (rmse) of 18.7% in comparison to fitting μs’ resulting in rmse of 2.6%, pointing to decreased measuring uncertainty, when the highly variable μa was known. The approach was tested on European pear, utilizing destructive PDW spectroscopy for setting one variable, while LLBI was applied for calculating the remaining coefficient. Results indicated that the optical properties of pear obtained from PDW spectroscopy as well as LLBI changed concurrently in correspondence to water content mainly. A destructive batch-wise analysis of μs’ and online analysis of μa may be considered in future developments for improved fruit sorting results, when considering fruit with high variability of μs’. © 2019 The Authors