Use of Soil Apparent Electrical Conductivity As Predictor of Soil Properties Variability in Permanent Pastures of the Flooding Pampas (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

The application of precision agriculture is currently being applied for cropping but not for pastures in livestock production. However, in the Flooding Pampas (Buenos Aires Province) spatial variability of soil types at farm and paddock scale is usually very high, which can influence growth dynamic and herbage production of permanent pastures. Soil apparent electrical conductivity measurement (ECa) in one of the methods currently used to map soil variability due define homogenous areas for specific management technologies. Our objective was to examine ECa as a predictor to evaluate the variability of soil properties that might influence in pasture performance (moisture content and pH). The study was performed in two sites located in General Madariaga, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Soil properties and ECa were measured at 0-50 cm soil depth. There were significant differences in pH between ECa classes (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) in both sites (p<0.05). Therefore, the data showed that significant (p<0.05) and positive correlation coefficients were found between these parameters in both sites (r²=0.86 and 0.73). Whereas no significant differences in moisture content between ECa classes were observed in site 1 (p>0.05), values were singly higher in the HIGH than in the other two ECa classes in site 2 (p<0.05). The differences between sites in moisture content may be explained by the high heterogeneity in site 2 because of is composed of various soil series. For this showed higher perceptual variation coefficient in comparison to site 1 (33.3% and 20.1% respectively). Our evaluation provide evidence that soil ECa is useful in identifying sites whit different pH in soils of the Flooding Pampas and showed potential for use in site-specific management of permanent pastures. However, further experimentation is necessary to confirm these findings.