Geophysical contribution to study the spatial variability of agricultural yields

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spatial variability of agricultural yields by using geophysical methods to map soil properties, focusing on the influence of water, nitrogen, and soil heterogeneities on crop productivity.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-depth geophysical prospection approach to map apparent electrical resistivity, linking soil heterogeneities to yield variability.

Findings

Variability in agricultural yields is linked to soil and resource heterogeneities.

Geophysical prospection effectively maps soil property gradients.

Soil property maps help explain yield differences across the site.

Abstract

Studies conducted on the experimental site of Lavalette (IRSTEA Montpellier) have shown variability in the observed agricultural yield, either attributable to spatial or temporal heterogeneities in water and nitrogen supply or to gradients of soil properties. The latter is addressed by performing a multi-depthg geophysical prospection that delivers maps of apparent electrical resistivity.