Classification of Soil Aptness to Establish of Panicum virgatum in Mississippi using Sensitivity Analysis and GIS

During the last decade Panicum virgatum, known as Switchgrass, has been broadly studied because of its remarkable attributes as a substitute pasture and as a functional biofuel source. The objective of this investigation was to establish soil suitability for Switchgrass in the State of Mississippi. A linear weighted additive model was developed to forecast soil suitability. Multicriteria analysis and Sensitivity analysis were utilized to adjust and optimize the model. The model was fit using seven years of field data associated with soils characteristics collected from Natural Resources Conservation System - United States Department of Agriculture (NRCS-USDA). The best model was selected by correlating calculated biomass yield with each model's soils-based output for Switchgrass suitability. Coefficient of determination (r2) was the decisive factor used to establish the 'best' soil suitability model. Coefficients associated with the 'best' model were implemented within a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a map of relative soil suitability for Switchgrass in Mississippi. A Geodatabase associated with soil parameters was built and is available for future Geographic Information System use.

Authors:

• Eduardo F. Arias
• William Cooke III
• Zhaofei Fan
• William Kingery

Keywords:

• Aptness
• GIS
• sensitivity analysis
• switchgrass
• soil.

References:

[1] Parrish DJ, Fike JH. "The biology and agronomy of switchgrass for
biofuels," Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 2005;Volme:423.
[2] McLaughlin SB, Kszos LA, "Development of switchgrass (Panicum
virgatum) as a bioenergy feedstock in the United States," Biomass &
Bioenergy 2005;Volme:515.
[3] Ma Z, Wood CW, Bransby DI, "Impacts of soil management on root
characteristics of switchgrass. Biomass & Bioenergy," 2000;Volme:105.
[4] Goodman AM, Ennos AR, "The effect of soil bulk density on the
morphology and anchorage mechanics of the root system of Sunflower
and Maize," Annals of Botany 1999;Volme:293.
[5] Muir JP, Sanderson MA, Ocumpaugh WR, Jones RM, Reedd RL,
"Biomass production of ÔÇÿAlamo- Switchgrass in response to nitrogen,
phosphorus, and row spacing," Agronomy Journal 2001;Volme:896.
[6] Kuchenbuch RO, Ingram KT, "Effects of soil bulk density on seminal
and lateral roots of young maize plants (Zea mays L.)," Journal of Plant
Nutrition and Soil Science-Zeitschrift Fur Pflanzenernahrung Und
Bodenkunde 2004;Volme:229.
[7] Forrester JW, Breierova L, M. C, "An introduction to sensitivity
analysis: Massachusetts Institute of Technology," 2001.
[8] Evers EW, Parsons MJ, "Soil type and moisture level influence on
Alamo switchgrass emergence and seedling growth," Crop Science
2003;Volme:288.
[9] Cassida KA, Muir JP, Hussey MA, Read JC, Venuto BC, Ocumpaugh
WR, "Biomass yield and stand characteristics of switchgrass in south
central US environments," Crop Science 2005;Volme:673.
[10] Di Virgilio N, Monti A, Venturi G, "Spatial variability of switchgrass
(Panicum virgatum L.) yield as related to soil parameters in a small
field," Field Crops Research 2007;Volme:232.
[11] De Jong R, Zentner RP, "Assessment of the spaw model for semi-arid
growing conditions with minimal local calibration," Agricultural water
management 1985;Volme:31.
[12] Bryce SA, Omernik JM, Larsen DP, "Ecoregions: A Geographic
Framework to Guide Risk Characterization and Ecosystem Management
Environmental Practice," 1999;Volme:141.
[13] Strager MP, Rosenberger RS, "Incorporating stakeholder preferences for
land conservation: Weights and measures in spatial MCA. Ecological
Economics," 2006;Volme:79.
[14] Malczewski J, "Ordered weighted averaging with fuzzy quantifiers:
GIS-based multicriteria evaluation for land-use suitability analysis,"
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
2006;Volme:270.
[15] Van Griensven A, Meixner T, Grunwald S, Bishop T, Diluzio A,
Srinivasan R, "A global sensitivity analysis tool for the parameters of
multi-variable catchment models." Journal of Hydrology
2006;Volme:10.