Development of Reflectance Spectral Libraries for Characterization of Soil Properties

Abstract

Methods for rapid estimation of soil properties are needed for quantitative assessments of land management problems. We developed a scheme for development and use of soil spectral libraries for rapid nondestructive estimation of soil properties based on analysis of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. A diverse library of over 1000 archived top soils from eastern and southern Africa was used to test the approach. Air-dried soils were scanned using a portable spectrometer {0.35-2.5 J.lm) with an artificial light source. Soil properties were calibrated to soil reflectance using multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), and screening tests were developed for various soil fertility constraints using classification trees.