Research of the Nitrogen Fertilization Mapping on Rice Fields using Spatial Statistics

Soil management is essential for the production of stable, high-quality crops and is a critical component of sustainable agriculture. Thus, continuous monitoring and management of the soil environment are crucial to ensure the smooth growth of crops. Conventional farming practices, characterized by excessive use of chemical fertilizers and frequent tillage, lead to issues such as soil salinization, compaction, and over-supplementation of nutrients. Analyzing soil components to apply optimized farming methods can provide appropriate nutrient supply to crops. The objective of this study is to investigate the composition of salt-affected paddy soils in South Korea and to understand the spatial correlations and continuities of soil compositions, in order to create maps of the expected fertilization rates for N. Soil samples from salt-affected paddy fields in South Korea were analyzed for SOM, SiO2 and TN Based on the guidelines for fertilizer use, the expected fertilization rates for N were determined. The Variogram spherical model was applied to identify the threshold values (Sill) and correlation distances (Range) for each field’s expected rates for N. Using these parameters, maps of the expected fertilization rates for N were generated through ordinary kriging interpolation.