Mapping boron deficiency risk in soils of south-west Western Australia using a weight of evidence model
M. T. F. Wong A C , R. W. Bell B and K. Frost BA CSIRO, Private Bag 5, Wembley, WA 6019, Australia.
B School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: Mike.Wong@csiro.au
Australian Journal of Soil Research 43(7) 811-818 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR05022
Submitted: 15 February 2005 Accepted: 13 July 2005 Published: 9 November 2005
Abstract
The aim of this work was to develop a risk map for boron (B) deficiency in the grain cropping regions of Western Australia (WA), whilst avoiding the high costs associated with direct B measurements for an area as vast as the south-west of WA. The study firstly determined relationships between 0.01 m CaCl2-extractable soil B levels and readily available data on soil properties and parent materials for Reference Soils of south-west Australia and secondly assembled direct evidence of B deficiency risk from surveys of farmers’ crops and soils and from glasshouse experiments. Across 73 Reference Soils, there was a positive relationship between 0.01 m CaCl2-extractable soil B levels and clay (r 2 = 0.50) and pH (r 2 = 0.43) in the surface horizon. Soils containing <0.5 mg B/kg generally had <5% clay and pH CaCl2 <5.5. Plant and soil analysis surveys in farmers’ fields revealed 10–20% of fields had B levels below tentative critical levels. In a glasshouse experiment, B response in oilseed rape was obtained in 4 sandy acid soils, all developed on sandstone parent materials. From this prior evidence of B deficiency, spatial data layers for surface soil pH, subsurface pH, surface clay level, and geology in south-western Australia were weighted and combined using the Dempster-Shafer weight of evidence model to map B-deficiency risk. The weightings of evidence layers were revised to increase the correspondence between predicted areas of high risk and field areas with measured low B or B deficiency from a validation dataset. The model helps overcome the high cost associated with direct B measurements for risk mapping. A similar approach may have value for mapping risk of other deficiencies of relevance to agriculture.
Additional keywords: boron, clay, pH, risk mapping, sandstone, weights of evidence.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the Grains Research and Development Corporation for co-funding this work with CSIRO and Murdoch University. We thank Ms Kathy Wittwer and Mr G. Lyle for technical support.
Bell RW
(1997) Diagnosis and prediction of boron deficiency for plant production. Plant and Soil 193, 149–168.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bell RW
(1999) Boron. ‘Soil analysis–an interpretation manual’. (Eds KI Peverill, LA Sparrow, DJ Reuter)
pp. 309–317. (CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, Vic.)
Bonham-Carter GF
(1991) Integration of geoscientific data using GIS. ‘Geographic information systems. Vol. 2. Applications’. (Eds DJ Maguire, MF Goodchild, DW Rhind)
pp. 171–184. (Longman Scientific and Technical: London)
Bonham-Carter, GF (1994).
Brennan RF, Adcock KG
(2004) Incidence of boron toxicity in spring barley in southwestern Australia. Journal of Plant Nutrition 27, 411–425.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cartwright B,
Zarcinas BA, Spouncer LR
(1984) Toxic concentrations of boron in a red-brown earth at Gladstone, South Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 22, 261–272.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cartwright B,
Zarcinas BA, Spouncer LR
(1986) Boron toxicity in South Australian barley. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 37, 351–359.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Caselton WF, Luo W
(1992) Decision making with imprecise probabilities: Dempster-Shafer theory and application. Water Resources Research 28, 3071–3083.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Churchward HM
(1986) The Mediterranean southwest. ‘Australian soils. The human impact’. (Eds JS Russell, RF Isbell, DW Rhind)
pp. 65–89. (University of Queensland Press: St Lucia, Qld)
Corner RJ, Wong MTF
(1999) Predicting the spatial distribution of potassium in the landscape at regional and field scales using a knowledge based method. ‘Precision agriculture ’99’. (Ed. JV Stafford)
pp. 605–614. (SCI Publication: UK)
Goldberg S
(1997) Reactions of boron with soils. Plant and Soil 193, 35–48.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Haddad KS, Kaldor CJ
(1982) Effect of parent material, natural available soil boron, and applied boron and lime on the growth and chemical composition of lucerne on some acidic soils of the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 22, 317–323.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Henderson B, Bui E, Moran C, Simon D, Carlile P
(2001) ASRIS: Continental-scale soil property predictions from point data. CSIRO Land and Water Technical Report 28/01, Canberra.
Hingston FJ
(1986) Biogeochemical cycling of boron in native Eucalypt forests of south-western Australia. Australian Forestry Research 16, 73–83.
Hingston FJ, Gailitis V
(1976) The geographic variation of salt precipitated over western Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 14, 319–335.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Huang L,
Ye ZQ, Bell RW
(1996) The importance of sampling young leaves for the diagnosis of boron deficiency in canola (Brassica napus L.). Plant and Soil 183, 187–198.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
IDRISI-32 Release 2 (2001).
Jackson JF, Chapman KR
(1975) The role of boron in plants. ‘Trace elements in soil–plant–animal systems’. (Eds DJD Nicholas, AR Egan, DW Rhind)
pp. 213–225. (Academic Press: New York)
Keren R, Bingham FT
(1985) Boron in water, soils, and plants. Advances in Soil Science 1, 230–276.
McArthur, WM (1991).
McArthur, WM (2004).
Moore G
(1998) Boron. ‘Soil guide: A handbook for understanding and managing agricultural soils’. Bulletin No. 4343.,(Ed. G Moore)
pp. 200–202. (Agriculture Western Australia: South Perth, W. Aust.)
Perry, M ,
and
Hillman, B (1991).
Riley MM
(1987) Boron toxicity in barley. Journal of Plant Nutrition 10, 2109–2115.
Ryan PJ
(1989) Boron retention within a catena of rhyolitic soils and its effect on radiata pine growth and nutrition. Australian Journal of Soil Research 27, 135–148.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Shorrocks VM
(1997) The occurrence and correction of boron deficiency. Plant and Soil 193, 121–148.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Spouncer LR,
Nable RO, Cartwright B
(1992) A procedure for the determination of soluble boron in soils ranging widely in boron concentrations, sodicity and pH. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 23, 441–445.
Sylvester-Bradley R
(1985) Revision of a code for stages of development in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). Aspects of Applied Biology 10, 395–400.
Wei YZ,
Bell RW,
Yang Y,
Xue JM,
Wang K, Huang L
(1998) Prognosis of boron deficiency in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) by plant analysis. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 49, 867–874.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Xu JM,
Wang K,
Huang L, Bell RW
(2001) Soil boron fractions and their relation to boron availability to oilseed rape. Soil Science Society of America Journal 65, 133–138.
Zadeh LA
(1965) Fuzzy sets. Information and Control 8, 338–353.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Zarcinas BA,
Cartwright B, Spouncer LR
(1987) Nitric acid digestion and multi-element analysis of plant material by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 18, 131–146.
