Combining soil-landscape and spatial-temporal variability of yield information to delineate site-specific management zones

This study evaluated an integrated approach to delineate site-specific management zones (MZ) using relative elevation, organic matter, slope, electrical conductivity, yield spatial trend map, and yield temporal stability map (ROSE-YSTTS) against two other approaches using only soil and landscape information (ROSE) or clustering multi-year yield maps (CMYYM) on two no-till corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation fields in eastern Illinois. It was found that the ROSE approach was least effective in accounting for crop yield variability, while the CMYYM approach was least effective in accounting for soil and landscape variability. The integrated ROSE-YSTTS approach was reasonably effective in accounting for both soil-landscape and yield variability. We conclude that the ROSE-YSTTS approach to MZ delineation procedure can overcome the weaknesses of approaches that are based only on soil and landscape or yield information, and thus is more likely to be useful for management purposes.