2022 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages 1-10
In Coastal Area of Fukushima Prefecture, the fertile topsoil was stripped away during the decontamination process, which is a major problem for crop cultivation. In this study, we estimated the total soil carbon of paddy fields (32 fields with total 835 a) in Tomioka Town, Fukushima Prefecture, from hyper spectral data obtained by a tractor-mounted soil analyzing system. The results showed that there was a large spatial variation in the total soil carbon in the study area and that the total soil carbon tended to increase with increasing the number of rice cultivations after the resumption of farming. In particular, there was a significant difference in total soil carbon between fields that had not yet resumed rice cultivation and fields that had already been farmed four or more times. The results of this study will be important for the restoration of soil fertility in the resumed farming areas after decontamination in Coastal Area of Fukushima Prefecture. In the future, it is necessary to calibrate a regression model to estimate total carbon in soils from hyper spectral data using local soils, and to continue the study in the same field. This will enable us to quantify the effect of individual cultivation techniques on total carbon in soils and to provide a roadmap for the recovery of agriculture in fields after decontamination in Coastal Area of Fukushima Prefecture.
