Where should soil samples for investigating the nutritional status on agricultural cropland taken?
The recommendation is not to sample in the tramlines but sometime agricultural practices is to sample in the tramlines, because of better driving in the field at wet condition.
What is your recommendation?
Has somebody done a survey about this questions => the difference of the nutrient status between the tramlines and in the tramlines? Is there are differences?
Thank you for your answers, best regards from Osnabrück / Germany, Stefan
Hi,
It all depends on your goals. If you aim to study soil chemistry, I advise you to make out transects by noting the distance to the border. The best, it would be best not to mix the samples, which will allow you to calculate an average value for the transect.
Best regards
We normally collect soil samples in order to investigate the nutritional status of soil on agricultural cropland. The samples collected have to be representative of the field situation. This is why portions of the field where unusual activity has taken place (such as heaping of trash and excessive passage with heavy machinery) are not suitable locations for soil sampling.
Formation of composite samples should be done with a lot of care. Samples from pockets of the field that appear to have unique soil must be analyzed separate from those from the rest of the field.
Hi, soil sampling is always about getting the representative sample for the field conditions. It is generally advised to avoid the low lying areas where nutrients flow and accumulate and give a wrong indication of the nutritional status. If the field is too undulated, it is suggested to take as many samples that represent the overall condition of the field. Hope it helps.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Agricultural Science
- Soil Science
- Soil Analysis