Site-specific land management of cereal crops based on management zone delineation by proximal soil sensing

Management zone (MZ) delineation can be improved by acquiring high-resolution data on soil and crop properties. This hypothesis was tested by directly comparing three fertiliser application schemas - each derived from different MZ delineation approaches. A uniform-rate (UR) scheme was used alongside two variable-rate methods. One replicated the traditional mapping of fertility-based MZ (VR1), the other employed soil property maps derived from a visible near-infrared (vis-NIR) on-line sensor (VR2). Results showed that VR2 produced higher yields of oil-seed rape (OSR) per hectare than both the traditional and uniform application in the same study field for the 2012 crop. This method also used slightly less nitrogen (N) fertiliser than the UR, indicating that it has both economic and environmental benefits.