saltRating {soilassessment}

A function for classifying salt-affected soils using EC and PH only

Description

This function determines classes of salt-affected soils using Electrical Conductivity and pH according to FAO or USDA salt classification schemes

Usage

saltRating(ec,ph,criterion="FAO")

Arguments

ec

Electrical Conductivity in dS/m of saturated soil paste extract or its equivalent

ph

soil reaction (pH)

criterion

The method to use for classifying salt-affected soil. Either FAO or USDA can be selected

Value

The output is an integer value for soil salt class. The class name for any integer code is obtained from classCode function

Note

This function gives approximate classification. A better classification is achieved when indicator of sodium ions is included (e.g. ESP)

Author(s)

Christian Thine Omuto

References

FAO.2006. Guidelines for soil description. FAO. Rome

Richards, L. A. (ed.) 1954. Diagnosis and Improvement of Saline and Alkali Soils. U.S. Department Agriculture Handbook 60. U.S. Gov. Printing Office, Washington, DC.

See Also

saltClass, saltSeverity, classCode

Examples

library(sp)
saltRating(11.2,8.14, "USDA")

ec=suitabinput["ec"]
ph=suitabinput["ph"]
soc=nutrindicator["soc"]
clay=textureinput["clay"]
texture=suitabinput["texture"]
newmap=ec
newmap$ph=ph$ph
newmap$ECe=ECconversion1(ec$ec,texture$texture,"FAO","1:1", soc$soc,clay$clay)
newmap$salinity=saltRating(newmap$ECe,newmap$ph,"FAO")
newmap$salineclass=classCode(newmap$salinity,"saltclass")
newmap$salineclass1=as.factor(newmap$salineclass)
spplot(newmap["salineclass"], main="Soil Salinity Class")
summary(newmap$salinity)