Marisol Medina-Sierra

By Marisol Medina-Sierra, Mario Cerón-Muñoz and Luis Galeano-Vasco

This chapter has been written with the purpose of increasing knowledge regarding the characteristics of soils dedicated to dairy and beef cattle farming in Antioquia, Colombia. Statistical analysis included several generalised additive models, with additive, smoothing, and tensor effects, such as geographic position and chemical parameters. Findings showed most farms belonged to small producers, 86.5% of cattle farms being family owned. Rotational grazing is the predominant system in 93% of farms; 58% of dairy farms and 94% of beef cattle farms do not fertilise their pastures. Results show high variability of soil chemical parameters. There are high levels of iron and low levels of sodium. Macronutrients, such as phosphorus and potassium show high levels in some dairy subregions and medium to low levels in others. Calcium (Ca) and magnesium levels are low for all subregions, excluding “Urabá” and “Occidente.” Most subregions have organic matter (OM) levels below 13%. The distribution of some chemical parameters is related to geographical location, such as pH and Ca, which change according to latitude and longitude. Different correlations were found amongst OM, total nitrogen, Ca, and exchangeable aluminium. Due to the high variability of soil fertility parameters, management programmes should be implemented for each distinctive production system.

Part of the book: Sustainable Rural Development Perspective and Global Challenges

By Tatiana Rodríguez Monroy, Manuela Ortega Monsalve, Luis Fernando Galeano-Vasco, Marisol Medina-Sierra and Mario Fernando Ceron-Munoz

This chapter provides an overview of cation exchange capacity (CEC) and its importance as an indicator of soil fertility, particularly in the assessment of grassland quality. The limitations of traditional methods are highlighted, and the need to explore more agile approaches to grassland quality assessment is emphasized. The increasing use of hyperspectral information (HSI) as an accurate tool for measuring soil properties, which promotes more effective and sustainable rangeland management, is further explored. This provides data on soil fertility and forage quality, enabling more accurate decisions. The benefits and challenges of using HSI data to estimate CEC and its potential to improve pasture and forage production will also be examined. HSI technology allows information to be collected and analyzed from reflected light at different wavelengths, providing a clear understanding of soil physical and chemical properties. In addition, a case study illustrating the estimation of CIC using hyperspectral cameras in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, is presented. The chapter emphasizes the relevance of this topic in the rangeland context and concludes with a future outlook that anticipates a change in the management and understanding of grazing systems.

Part of the book: Grasslands

By Manuela Ortega Monsalve, Tatiana Rodríguez Monroy, Luis Fernando Galeano-Vasco, Marisol Medina-Sierra and Mario Fernando Ceron-Munoz

Spectroscopy is a promising technique for determining nutrients in grasses and may be a valuable tool for future research. This chapter reviews research carried out in recent years, focusing on determining the quality of grasses using spectroscopy techniques, specifically, spectrophotometry. The chemical methods used to determine the nutritional quality of grasses produce chemical residues, are time-consuming, and are costly to use when analyzing large crop extensions. Spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique that can establish the nutritional quality of grass easily and accurately. This chapter aims to describe the techniques focused on the use of spectroscopy and machine learning models to predict and determine the quality of grasses. A bibliographic review was conducted and recent research articles were selected that showed spectroscopic techniques applied to grasses. Different methods and results focusing on the quality of the grasses were compiled. In general, this review showed that the most commonly used spectroscopic method is near-infrared analysis. Spectroscopy is a very effective tool that opens the way to new types of technologies that can be applied to obtain results in determining the quality of pastures, leaving behind the use of traditional methods that represent higher costs and disadvantages compared to traditional methods based on precision agriculture.

Part of the book: Grasslands