Models relating soil pH measurements in water and calcium chloride that incorporate electrolyte concentration

Soil pH is the most routinely measured soil property for assessing plant nutrient availability. Nevertheless, there are various techniques for soil pH measurement, which vary with regard to the solution used and the soil‐to‐solution ratio. Soil pH is commonly measured in water or 0.01 m CaC1₂. Soil pH in CaCl₂ is usually preferred as it is less affected by soil electrolyte concentration and provides a more consistent measurement. Therefore there is a need to convert measurement values between the two methods. Previous models reported linear and curvilinear relationships between the two measurements. However, the pH difference between measurements in water and CaCl₂ is related to the soil solution electrolyte concentration. We observed that the pH difference between the two methods became smaller with increasing soil electrical conductivity (EC). We therefore developed models that relate pH in CaCl₂ and water and incorporate EC values. We calibrated a linear and a non‐linear model (artificial neural networks, ANN) using 9817 soil samples from Queensland, Australia. Soil pH in water and CaCl₂ and EC were measured with a 1:5 soil‐to‐solution ratio. The results show that incorporating EC in the prediction model improves the prediction of pH in CaCl₂ significantly. We validated these models using 4576 independent samples obtained from a diverse range of soils across Australia. Although the linear and ANN models performed similarly, the ANN (which has a curvilinear relationship) provided a better prediction and aligns with the theory that for acid and alkaline pH values, the difference between pH in water and CaCl₂ is less than that for pHs between 4.5 and 7.     

Evaluating soil reinforcement by plant roots using artificial neural networks

Soil reinforcement by plant roots and its response to influencing factors are very important for bank stability evaluation and control. Models with improved accuracy are urgently needed for evaluating soil reinforcement. Using a back‐propagation (BP) learning algorithm, an artificial neural network (ANN) model with five input variables, including the number of roots, root area ratio, root tensile strength, soil shear strength, and soil moisture content, was developed to simulate the response of soil reinforcement to these factors. A connection weight approach was used to understand the relative importance of each factor. Using a data set published in 2003 and collected in Australia, soil reinforcement of four trees, Casuarina glauca, Eucalyptus amplifolia, Eucalyptus elata and Acacia floribunda, was simulated using three models: BP‐ANN, one described by Wu et al. in 1979 and the 2005 fibre bundle model (FBM) of Pollen and Simon. Comparisons of results from these models showed that the BP‐ANN model most accurately estimated the soil reinforcement. The simulated results indicated that only the effect of soil moisture content on soil reinforcement was negative. The influence of the other four factors was positive, and the relative importance was in the order: root area ratio > root tensile strength > the number of roots > soil shear strength. This study provides a new approach to soil reinforcement estimation and improves our understanding of soil resistance and bank stability.     

Soil Particulate Organic Matter (POM) Prediction in a Mountainous Watershed using Artificial Neural Networks

Soil organic matter is a very important component of soil that supports the sustainability and quality in all ecosystems, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. A comparison study was carried out to verify when the artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple linear regression (MLR) models are appropriate for the prediction of soil organic matter (SOM) and particulate organic matter (POM). Discussions of advantages and disadvantages are given for both methods. Three different sets of easily available properties (soil properties alone, topographic and vegetation index, a combination of soil and topographic data) were used as inputs and the one affecting the model the most was determined. The smallest prediction errors were obtained by the ANN method; however, the prediction accuracies of the constructed MLR models using different data sets were closed to the ANN models in many cases.     

Using support vector machines to predict cation exchange capacity of different soil horizons in Qingdao City,China

Agricultural, environmental and ecological modeling requires soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) that is difficult to measure. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) are thus routinely applied to predict CEC from easily measured physicochemical properties (e.g., texture, soil organic matter, pH). This study developed the support vector machines (SVM)‐based PTFs to predict soil CEC based on 208 soil samples collected from A and B horizons in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China. The database was randomly split into calibration and validation datasets in proportions of 3:1 using the bootstrap method. The optimal SVM parameters were searched by applying the genetic algorithm (GA). The performance of SVM models was compared to those of multiple stepwise regression (MSR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models. Results show that the accuracy of CEC predicted by SVM improves considerably over those predicted by MSR and ANN. The performance of SVM for B horizon (R² = 0.85) is slightly better than that for A horizon (R² = 0.81). The SVM is a powerful approach in the simulation of nonlinear relationship between CEC and physicochemical properties of widely distributed samples from different soil horizons. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to explore the influence of each input parameter on the CEC predictions by SVM. The clay content is the most sensitive parameter, followed by soil organic matter and pH, while sand content has the weakest influence. This suggests that clay is the most important predictor for predicting CEC of both soil horizons.     

沿海滩涂农田耕层土壤饱和导水率间接方法的评价

为筛选和构建适合苏北沿海滩涂围垦农田耕层土壤饱和水力传导率间接估算的土壤转换函数,在典型地块实测土壤饱和导水率和相关土壤基本性质的基础上,分析了11种根据基本土壤性质预测饱和导水率的转换函数方法的适用性,同时探讨了基于人工神经网络方法的土壤转换函数的预测效果。结果表明:滩涂围垦农田耕层土壤平均饱和导水率为10.04 cm/d,属低透水强度;在现有的土壤饱和导水率转换函数中,Vereecken函数是最适合滩涂围垦农区土壤、具有最佳预测精度的转换函数,其预测均方根误差为8.154,其次是Li、Campbell和Rawls函数;以砂粒、粘粒、容重和有机质作为输入因子,基于人工神经网络的土壤转换函数较Vereecken函数其预测均方根误差降至7.920,在输入因子中增加土壤盐分指标可进一步提高饱和导水率的预测精度,其预测均方根误差降为7.634。本文的研究结果显示利用人工神经网络方法建立的转换函数可有效提高滩涂盐渍农田土壤饱和导水率的预测精度。     

海涂围垦区土壤盐分空间变异模拟的比较研究

以苏北海涂围垦区为例,利用人工神经网络(ANN)、普通克里格(OK)插值和序贯高斯模拟(SGS)对典型地块土壤盐分空间分布进行了模拟、插值与预测,获取了各方法的优化结构与参数,并就各方法对土壤盐分分布特征与空间结构的预测能力进行了比较分析。结果表明:ANN、OK和SGS法均较好地模拟和预测了土壤盐分的空间分布,达到了较高模拟、插值与预测精度;ANN获得的土壤盐分空间分布最为连续,SGS法整体分布相对离散;ANN能较好地预测盐分较低的样点,但ANN对高盐分样点的预测结果不如SGS和OK;SGS预测结果最符合实测值的波动特点,ANN预测结果波动范围最窄,SGS较ANN和OK更能反应数据随机变量的结构性和波动性,在整体上要优于ANN和OK法。该结果为滨海地区盐渍土壤的精准评估与高效改良提供了参考依据。     

基于机器学习理论的土壤侵蚀模型构建

土壤侵蚀一直是环境问题中的重点和难点。由于影响土壤侵蚀的因素众多,传统的预测模型存在数据获取困难、适用范围小、研究周期长等不足,使得对土壤侵蚀的预测无法做到快速、便捷。支持向量机(Support Vector Machine,SVM)是机器学习中的一个重要模型,具有非线性映射、自我学习能力、全局最小值、对输入数据变化不敏感等优点,在建立土壤侵蚀量相关性预测模型方面较传统预测模型具有更强的优势。本研究应用浙江省诸暨市浦阳江水文站的降雨数据,利用ArcGIS地理信息系统确定水文站上游流域为研究区域。以降雨量、研究区域地理数据维度(包括坡度数据、坡长数据、土壤信息、土地利用类型)作为影响因子,输入支持向量机模型,进行流域内土壤侵蚀量预测。将水文站土壤侵蚀量实测数据作为对照值,用模型输出值检验,从而在取值范围内选择出模型最优的参数组。用影响因子数据和土壤侵蚀量数据对使用最优参数的模型进行检验,模型的预测准确率最高达到75%。其中,降雨量对土壤侵蚀量的影响最大,降雨量单因子预测准确率在70%以上,其余因子预测准确率在3.5%左右。最终得到一个土壤侵蚀量相关性预测模型,通过水文站降雨数据以及地理信息,即可预测当地土壤侵蚀量,准确率达到75%。     

Development of a Near‐Infrared Imaging System for Determination of Rice Moisture

The objective of this study was to develop a near‐infrared (NIR) imaging system to determine rice moisture content. The NIR imaging system fitted with 15 band‐pass filters (wavelengths of 870–1,014 nm) was used to capture the spectral image. In this work, calibration methods including multiple linear regression (MLR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and artificial neural network (ANN) were used in both near‐infrared spectrometry (NIRS) and the NIR imaging system to determine the moisture content of rice. Comprehensive performance comparison among MLR, PLSR, and ANN approaches has been conducted. To reduce repetition and redundancy in the input data and obtain a more accurate network, six significant wavelengths selected by the MLR model, which had high correlation with the moisture content of rice, were used as the input data of the ANN. The performance of the developed system was evaluated through experimental tests for rice moisture content. This study adopted the coefficient of determination (r_val²), the standard error of prediction (SEP), and the relative performance determinant (RPD) as the performance indices of the NIR imaging system with respect to the tests of rice moisture content. Utilizing these three models, the analysis results of r_val², SEP, and RPD for the validation set were within 0.942–0.952, 0.435–0.479%, and 4.2–4.6, respectively. From experimental results, the performance of NIR imaging system was almost the same as that of NIRS. Using the developed NIR imaging system, all of the three different calibration methods (MLR, PLSR, and ANN) provided a high prediction capacity for the determination of moisture in rice samples. These results indicated that the NIR imaging system developed in this study can be used as a device for the measurement of rice moisture content.     

利用人工神经网络以及相关地形属性绘制数字土壤地图

Detailed soil surveys involve costly and time-consuming work and require expert knowledge. Since soil surveys provide information to meet a wide range of needs, new methods are necessary to map soils quickly and accurately. In this study, multilayer perceptron artificial neural networks (ANNs) were developed to map soil units using digital elevation model (DEM) attributes. Several optimal ANNs were produced based on a number of input data and hidden units. The approach used test and validation areas to calculate the accuracy of interpolated and extrapolated data. The results showed that the system and level of soil classification employed had a direct effect on the accuracy of the results. At the lowest level, smaller errors were observed with the World Reference Base (WRB) classification criteria than the Soil Taxonomy (ST) system, but more soil classes could be predicted when using ST (7 soils in the case of ST vs. 5 with WRB). Training errors were below 11% for all the ANN models applied, while the test error (interpolation error) and validation error (extrapolation error) were as high as 50% and 70%, respectively. As expected, soil prediction using a higher level of classification presented a better overall level of accuracy. To obtain better predictions, in addition to DEM attributes, data related to landforms and/or lithology as soil-forming factors, should be used as ANN input data.     

Comparison of Artificial Neural Networks models with correlative works on undrained shear strength

In recent years, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) modelling that has been used in the solution of the complex problems has gained an increasing interest in soil science. The ANN modelling is also getting more popular in soil mechanics applications. It is a preferable method among the other approaching methods because of having quick results in test phase in short time. This paper describes the ANN models for estimating undrained shear strength (S_u) of cohesive soils from SPT (Standard Penetration Test) data with index properties in Turkey. The performance of the ANN models is investigated using different input variables such as measured N, corrected N (N₆₀) value, natural water content (w_n), liquid limit (w_L), plasticity index (I_p). In this study the ANN models are compared to empirical methods. The results indicate the superior performance of ANN models over the empirical methods.     

Estimation of Soil Cation Exchange Capacity using Multiple Regression,Artificial Neural Networks,and Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference System Models in Golestan Province,Iran

Artificial neural networks (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) provide an alternative by estimating soil parameters from more readily available data. In this article, multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF) of ANN and ANFIS models were described to estimate soil cation exchange capacity and compared to traditional multiple regression (MR). Moreover, to test the accuracy of previous functions that estimate cation exchange capacity (CEC), five pedotransfer functions (PTFs) were surveyed. The results showed that the accuracies of ANN and ANFIS models were similar in relation to their statistical parameters. It was also found that ANFIS model exhibited greater performance than RBF, MLP, MR, and PTFs to estimate soil CEC, respectively. Finally, sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the most and the least influential variables affecting soil CEC. The performance comparisons of used models showed that the soft computing system is a good tool to predict soil characteristics.     

Digital soil mapping using artificial neural networks

In the context of a growing demand of high‐resolution spatial soil information for environmental planning and modeling, fast and accurate prediction methods are needed to provide high‐quality digital soil maps. Thus, this study focuses on the development of a methodology based on artificial neural networks (ANN) that is able to spatially predict soil units. Within a test area in Rhineland‐Palatinate (Germany), covering an area of about 600 km², a digital soil map was predicted. Based on feed‐forward ANN with the resilient backpropagation learning algorithm, the optimal network topology was determined with one hidden layer and 15 to 30 cells depending on the soil unit to be predicted. To describe the occurrence of a soil unit and to train the ANN, 69 different terrain attributes, 53 geologic‐petrographic units, and 3 types of land use were extracted from existing maps and databases. 80% of the predicted soil units (n = 33) showed training errors (mean square error) of the ANN below 0.1, 43% were even below 0.05. Validation returned a mean accuracy of over 92% for the trained network outputs. Altogether, the presented methodology based on ANN and an extended digital terrain‐analysis approach is time‐saving and cost effective and provides remarkable results.     

Modeling Selected Properties of Extruded Rice Flour and Rice Starch by Neural Networks and Statistics

Rice flour and rice starch were single‐screw extruded and selected product properties were determined. Neural network (NN) models were developed for prediction of individual product properties, which performed better than the regression models. Multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) models were developed to simultaneously predict five product properties or three product properties from three input parameters; they were extremely efficient in predictions with values of R² > 0.95. All models were feedforward backpropagation NN with three‐layered networks with logistic activation function for the hidden layer and the output layers. Also, model parameters were very similar except for the number of neurons in the hidden layer. MIMO models for predicting product properties from three input parameters had the same architecture and parameters for both rice starch and rice flour.     

基于图像处理和SVR的土壤容重与土壤孔隙度预测

土壤容重和土壤孔隙度是衡量土壤结构的重要参数。传统的土壤容重、土壤孔隙度获取方法费时费力,且大多数预测模型的输入变量获取难度较高。该研究利用土壤粗糙度、土壤阻力与土壤容重的相关关系,以土壤表面图像的颜色参数和纹理参数表征土壤粗糙度,同使用车载式土壤阻力测量系统获得的土壤阻力一起,从信息融合的角度构建了支持向量机回归（Support Vector Regression,SVR）土壤容重预测模型和SVR土壤孔隙度预测模型。图像处理使用HSV颜色空间进行阈值分割,得到HSV颜色参数,纹理参数使用灰度共生矩阵的能量、熵、对比度和逆方差。使用主成分分析对颜色参数和纹理参数进行主成分提取。将SVR模型的预测结果同环刀法测得的标准值进行相关性分析,决定系数R2达到了0.867。土壤孔隙度SVR预测模型决定系数R2达到了0.743。在相同的运行环境下,将SVR模型与决策树回归模型结果做了对比,决策树回归对土壤容重和土壤孔隙度的预测精度R2分别为0.734和0.690,验证得到SVR预测模型具有更好的预测精度。研究可为节省试验成本,以及快速、有效预测土壤容重和土壤孔隙度提供方法和参考。     

Comparative Analysis of MLR,ANN, and ANFIS Models for Prediction of Field Capacity and Permanent Wilting Point for Bafra Plain Soils

ABSTRACT

Soil hydraulic parameters like moisture content at field capacity and permanent wilting point constitute significant input parameters of various biophysical models and agricultural practices (irrigation timing and amount of irrigation to be applied). In this study, the performance of three different methods (Multiple linear regression – MLR, Artificial Neural Network – ANN and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System – ANFIS) with different input parameters in prediction of field capacity and permanent wilting point from easily obtained soil characteristics were compared. Correlation analysis indicated that clay content, sand content, cation exchange capacity, CaCO₃, and organic matter had significant correlations with FC and PWP (p < .01). Validation results revealed that the ANN model with the greatest R² and the lowest MAE and RMSE value exhibited better performance for prediction of FC and PWP than the MLR and ANFIS models. ANN model had R² = 0.83, MAE = 2.36% and RMSE = 3.30% for FC and R² = 0.81, MAE = 2.15%, RMSE = 2.89% for PWP in training dataset; R² = 0.80, MAE = 2.27%, RMSE = 3.12% for FC and R² = 0.83, MAE = 1.84%, RMSE = 2.40% for PWP in testing dataset. Also, Bayesian Regularization (BR) algorithm exhibited better performance for both FC and PWP than the other training algorithms.     

Uncertainty analysis for pedotransfer functions

Both empirical and process‐simulation models are useful in predicting the outcome of agricultural management on soil quality and vice versa, and pedotransfer functions have been developed to translate readily available soil information into variables that are needed in the models. The input data are subject to error, and consequently the transfer functions can produce varied outputs. A general approach to quantifying the resulting uncertainty is to use Monte Carlo methods. By sampling repeatedly from the assumed probability distributions of the input variables and evaluating the response of the model, the statistical distribution of the outputs can be estimated. Methods for sampling the probability distribution include simple random sampling, the sectioning method, and Latin hypercube sampling. The Latin hypercube sampling is applied to the quantification of uncertainties in pedotransfer functions of soil strength and soil hydraulic properties. Hydraulic properties predicted using recently developed pedotransfer functions are also used in a model to analyse the uncertainties in the prediction of soil‐water regimes in the field. The uncertainties of hydraulic properties in soil‐water simulation show that the model is sensitive to the soil's moisture state.     

Comparison of artificial neural network and regression pedotransfer functions for prediction of soil water retention and saturated hydraulic conductivity

Modeling water flow and solute transport in vadose zone requires knowledge of soil hydraulic properties, which are water retention and hydraulic conductivity curves. As an alternative to direct measurement, indirect determination of these functions from basic soil properties using pedotransfer functions (PTFs) has attracted the attention of researchers in a variety of fields such as soil scientists, hydrologists, and agricultural and environmental engineers. In this study, PTFs for point and parametric (van Genuchten's parameters) estimation of soil hydraulic parameters from basic soil properties such as particle-size distribution, bulk density, and three different pore sizes were developed and validated using artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple-linear regression methods and the predictive capabilities of the two methods was compared using some evaluation criteria. Total of 195 soil samples was divided into two groups as 130 for the development and 65 for the validation of PTFs. Although the differences between the two methods were not statistically significant (p > 0.05), regression predicted point and parametric variables of soil hydraulic parameters better than ANN. Both methods had lower accuracy in parametric predictions than in point predictions. Accuracy of the predictions was evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R²) and the root mean square error (RMSE) between the measured and predicted parameter values. The R² and RMSE varied from 0.637 to 0.979 and from 0.013 to 0.938 for regression, and varied from 0.444 to 0.952 and from 0.020 to 3.511 for ANN, respectively. Even though regression performs insignificantly better than ANN in this case, ANN produces promising results and its advantages can be utilized by developing or using new algorithms in future studies.     

基于BP神经网络的土壤水力学参数预测

为了获取区域土壤水分和溶质运移模拟所需的土壤水力学参数,利用黄淮海平原曲周县的试验资料建立基于BP神经网络的土壤转换函数模型。本文采用土壤粒径分布、容重、有机质含量等土壤基本理化性质,来预测土壤饱和导水率Ks、饱和含水量sθ、残余含水量θr、以及van Genuchten公式参数α、n的对数形式ln(α)和ln(n),并与多元线性逐步回归方法进行比较。t检验结果表明,BP神经网络训练和预测得到的模拟值与实测值之间吻合很好,该方法具有较高的预测精度。通过对平均相对误差的比较,得出在粒径分布的基础上增加容重、有机质含量等输入项目,可以提高部分土壤水力学参数的预测精度,而有些参数的预测精度反而降低。以误差平方和为标准的比较结果表明,BP神经网络模型的预测效果总的来看要优于多元线性回归法。     

Transferability of continuous‐ and class‐pedotransfer functions to predict water retention properties of semiarid Syrian soils

Hydraulic properties of soils, particularly water retention, are key for appropriate management of semiarid soils. Very few pedotransfer functions (PTF s) have been developed to predict these properties for soils of Mediterranean regions, where data are particularly scarce. We investigated the transferability of PTF s to semiarid soils. The quality of the prediction was compared to that for soils originating from temperate regions for which most PTF s were developed. We used two soil data sets: one from the Paris basin (French data set, n  = 30) and a Syrian data set (n  = 30). Soil samples were collected in winter when the water content was near field capacity. Composition and water content of the samples were determined at seven water potentials. Continuous‐ and class‐PTF s developed using different predictors were tested using the two data sets and their performance compared to those developed using artificial neural networks (ANN ). The best performance and transferability of the PTF s for both data sets used soil water content at field capacity as predictor after stratification by texture. The quality of prediction was similar to that for ANN ‐PTF s. Continuous‐ and class‐PTF s may be transferable to other countries with performances that vary according to their ability to account for variation in soil composition and structure. Taking into account predictors of composition (particle size distribution, texture, organic carbon content) and structure (bulk density, porosity, field capacity) did not lead to a better performance or the best transferability potential.     

基于光谱吸收特征的土壤含水量预测模型研究

为了定量分析土壤含水量与反射光谱特征之间关系,并为土壤含水量速测提供理论依据。以黑土作为研究对象,测定实验室光谱反射率,利用去包络线方法提取反射光谱特征指标,建立土壤水分含量高光谱预测模型。结果表明:黑土含水量与1 420 nm、1 920 nm附近吸收谷的主要光谱特征(吸收谷深度、宽度、面积)呈显著正相关;1 920 nm附近吸收谷可作为黑土土壤水分的特征吸收谷,由其光谱特征参数预测黑土含水量;以1 920 nm附近吸收谷面积为自变量建立的一元线性回归模型预测精度高,输入量少,可以作为土壤含水量速测仪器研制的理论依据。