Sampling grid density and lime recommendation in an Oxisol

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different sampling grids density in the lime requirements in an Oxisol. The experiment was conducted at a rural property located in Sidrolândia city, Mato Grosso do Sul state, in the Brazilian ‘Cerrado’. In the soil attributes mapping, regular sampling grid was used consisting of 99 points, spread over an area of 90 ha. Other two grids (51 and 27 points) were derived by deleting lines or lines and points from the original one. Based on the results of soil analysis, the lime requirement at each sample point was calculated. Using geostatistical techniques the spatial variability of lime requirement was studied and grid configuration for each sample was tested. By kriging, maps were made. By reducing the number of sampling points, 11% of the experimental area showed an overestimation and 8% underestimation comparing with the lime requirement made using the highest sampling grid density.