Spectral data of tropical soils using dry-chemistry techniques (VNIR, XRF, and LIBS): A dataset for soil fertility prediction

Tiago Rodrigues Tavares; José Paulo Molin; Lidiane Cristina Nunes; Elton Eduardo Novais Alves; Francisco José Krug; Hudson Wallace Pereira de Carvalho

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2022.108004

Spectral data of tropical soils using dry-chemistry techniques (VNIR, XRF, and LIBS): A dataset for soil fertility prediction

Data Brief. 2022 Mar 1:41:108004. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2022.108004. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Tiago Rodrigues Tavares^{1

2}, José Paulo Molin¹, Lidiane Cristina Nunes^{2

3}, Elton Eduardo Novais Alves⁴, Francisco José Krug², Hudson Wallace Pereira de Carvalho²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biosystems Engineering, "Luiz de Queiroz" College of Agriculture (ESALQ), University of São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, São Paulo 13418900, Brazil.
² Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA), University of São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba, São Paulo 13416000, Brazil.
³ Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 31270-901, Brazil.
⁴ CESFRA, AgroBioSciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, BenGuerir 43150, Morocco.

Abstract

Proximal soil sensing technologies, such as visible and near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (VNIR), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), are dry-chemistry techniques that enable rapid and environmentally friendly soil fertility analyses. The application of XRF and LIBS sensors in an individual or combined manner for soil fertility prediction is quite recent, especially in tropical soils. The shared dataset presents spectral data of VNIR, XRF, and LIBS sensors, even as the characterization of key soil fertility attributes (clay, organic matter, cation exchange capacity, pH, base saturation, and exchangeable P, K, Ca, and Mg) of 102 soil samples. The samples were obtained from two Brazilian agricultural areas and have a wide variation of chemical and textural attributes. This is a pioneer dataset of tropical soils, with potential to be reused for comparative studies with other datasets, e.g., comparing the performance of sensors, instrumental conditions, and/or predictive models on different soil types, soil origin, concentration range, and agricultural practices. Moreover, it can also be applied to compose soil spectral libraries that use spectral data collected under similar instrumental conditions.

Keywords: Hybrid laboratory; Pedometrics; Precision agriculture; Proximal Soil Sensing; Soil spectral libraries.