Evaluación de la variabilidad espacial de propiedades del suelo bajo diferentes usos/coberturas en la granja El Romeral de la Universidad de Cuenca

Abstract

Different land use and management practices have a great impact on soil properties, therefore, it is important to know how these soil properties vary in different land use/cover contexts in order to carry out soil management strategies, that allows precision agriculture to be carried out. For this reason, a study was conducted in different experimental plots of the “El Romeral” Farm of the University of Cuenca, where the variability of some soil properties was evaluated according to different categories of land use or coverage (agroforestry, pasture and agricultural), and later its spatial distribution was mapped. Random sampling was performed with a total of 74 sampling points in a compact geographic strata design. Consequently, altered and undisturbed soil samples from 0 to 15 cm deep were measured and collected and analyzed for the variables: bulk density (Da), penetration resistance (RP), organic matter (OM) and soil pH. The results analyzed with classical statistics, geostatistical techniques and GIS confirmed that there were not only changes in the levels of the evaluated variables derived from the effect of land use and its vegetation cover, but also influenced the spatial variability between the studied plots. Therefore, it could be inferred that apart from intrinsic and extrinsic factors, the actual land use and the vegetation cover played a vital role on the spatial distribution. Finally, some spatial variability maps provide useful information for administrators and researchers who intervene on the experimental plots for their interests.