Delineation of site-specific management zones by fuzzy clustering of soil and topographic attributes: A case study of East Nile Delta, Egypt

The objective of this study was to define site-specific management zones of 67.2 ha of a wheat pivot field at East of Nile Delta, Egypt for use in precision agriculture based on spatial variability of soil and topographic attributes. The field salinity was analysed by reading the apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) with the EM38 sensor horizontally and vertically at 432 locations. The field was sampled for soil attributes systematically with a total of 80 sampling location points. All samples were located using GPS hand held unit. Soil sampling for management zones included soil reaction pH, soil saturation percentage, organic matter, calcium carbonates content, available nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium. The field topographic attributes were digital elevation model (DEM), slope, profile curvature, plane curvature, compound topographic index (CTI) and power stream index (PSI). The maps of spatial variability of soil and field topographic attributes were generated using ordinary kriging geostatistical method. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the most important soil and topographic attributes for representing within-field variability. Principal component analysis of input variables indicated that EM38 horizontal readings (EM38h), soil saturation percentage and digital elevation model were more important attributes for defining field management zones. The fuzzy c-means clustering method was used to divide the field into potential management zones, fuzzy performance index (FPI) and normalized classification entropy (NCE) were used to determine the optimal cluster numbers. Measures of cluster performance indicated no advantage of dividing these fields into more than five management zones. The defined management zones not only provided a better description of the soil properties, but also can direct soil sampling design and provide valuable information for site-specific management in precision agriculture.