Headland and Field Edge Performance Assessment Using Yield Maps and Sentinel-2 Images

Abstract

Headland and field edges have a higher traffic frequency compared to the field centre, which causes more compaction. Most repeated compaction is located at the field entrance area and headland during machinery turning and material transporting that takes place during the fertilisation, herbicide laying, and harvesting of fields, which could cause soil structure destruction and yield reduction. In this study, the differences between headland, field edges, and field centre were studied using yield maps and the vegetation indices (VIs) calculated by the Google Earth Engine (GEE). First, thirteen yield maps from 2019 to 2022 were used to measure the yield difference between headland, field edges, and field centre. Then, one hundred and eleven fields from northern Italy were used to compare the vegetation indices (VIs) differences between headland, field edges, and field centre area. Then, field size, sand, and clay content were calculated and estimated from GEE. The yield map showed that headland and field edges were 12.20% and 2.49% lower than the field centre. The results of the comparison of the VIs showed that headlands and field edges had lower values compared to the field centre, with reductions of 4.27% and 2.70% in the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), 4.17% and 2.67% in the green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), and 5.87% and 3.59% in the normalised difference red edge (NDRE). Additionally, the results indicated that the yield losses in the headland and field edges increased as the clay content increased and sand content decreased. These findings suggest that soil compaction and structural damage caused by the higher traffic frequency in the headland and field edges negatively affect crop yield.