Mapping of Soil Quality Index (SQI) for Paddy Fields Using Sentinel-2 Imagery, Laboratory Analysis, and Principal Component Analysis

Abstract

The use of intensive chemical inputs causes lower availability of nutrients, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, and soil degradation.Therefore, this study aims to assess the soil quality index (SQI) for paddy fields in Jember, East Java, Indonesia. Input data for this study consist of land cover (interpreted from the Sentinel-2 image), soil type, and slope maps. Furthermore, the procedure to calculate soil quality index (SQI) include (1) spatial analysis to create the land unit, (2) preparation of soil sampling, (3) soil chemical analysis, (4) principal component analysis (PCA), and (5) reclassifying soil quality index (SQI). The PCA results showed that three variables i.e., % sand, total- P, and % silt were strongly correlated to SQI, while three classes namely very low, low, and medium of SQI were sufficiently used to describe the spatial variability of the paddy field. Furthermore, approximately 41.14% of the paddy field area were classed as very low while 52.23%, and 6.63% were categorized as low and medium SQI respectively. Based on the results, about 93.37% of paddy fields in Jember Regency still require improvement in soil quality via the addition of ameliorants such as organic fertilizers to increase quality and productivity. This application needs to focus on areas with very low-low quality hence, the quality increased to the medium category.