{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T14:45:10Z","timestamp":1773845110309,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,30]],"date-time":"2019-11-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1575072000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Site-specific liming helps increase efficiency in agricultural production. For adequate determination of the lime demand, a combination of apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) and topsoil pH can be used. Here, it was hypothesized that this can also be done at low-input level. Field measurements using the EM38 MK I (Geonics, Canada) were conducted on three experimental sites in north Germany in 2011. The topsoil pH was measured based on two approaches: on the field using a handheld pH meter (Spectrum-Technologies Ltd., Bridgend, UK) with a flat electrode (in situ), and in the lab using standard equipment (ex situ). Both soil ECa (0.4\u201335.9 mS m\u22121) and pH (5.13\u20137.41) were heterogeneously distributed across the sites. The same was true of the lime demand (\u22121.35\u20134.18 Mg ha\u22121). There was a significant correlation between in situ and ex situ determined topsoil pH (r = 0.89; p &lt; 0.0001). This correlation was further improved through non-linear regression (r = 0.92; p &lt; 0.0001). Thus, in situ topsoil pH was found suitable for map-overlay with ECa to determine the site-specific lime demand. Consequently, the hypothesis could be confirmed: The combined use of data from EM38 and handheld pH meters is a promising low-input approach that may help implement site-specific liming in developing countries.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s19235280","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,2]],"date-time":"2019-12-02T10:50:45Z","timestamp":1575283845000},"page":"5280","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Low-Input Estimation of Site-Specific Lime Demand Based on Apparent Soil Electrical Conductivity and In Situ Determined Topsoil pH"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1132-3281","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Moritz","family":"von Cossel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biobased Products and Energy Crops (340b), Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Harm","family":"Druecker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Kiel University, Olshausenstr. 40, 24098 Kiel, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eberhard","family":"Hartung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Kiel University, Olshausenstr. 40, 24098 Kiel, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02369968","article-title":"Acidification and alkalinization of soils","volume":"75","author":"Mulder","year":"1983","journal-title":"Plant Soil"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1038\/329027a0","article-title":"Chemical processes governing soil and water acidification","volume":"329","author":"Reuss","year":"1987","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"142","DOI":"10.1080\/07060661.2013.868829","article-title":"Research status of clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) on cruciferous crops in China","volume":"36","author":"Chai","year":"2014","journal-title":"Can. 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