Using image analysis to estimate the soil organic carbon content

Abstract Soil test for organic carbon content using the Walkley-Black standard method is a laborious task that takes almost 5 working days to report the results. In order to improve lab analysis efficiency, a new analytical method using digital images is proposed. Using multivariate image analysis (MIA) soil organic carbon (SOC) contents can be determined in r 2  > 0.93, between image data and SOC contents measured by the standard analytical method. The proposed MIA method is eco-friendly, cheap, fast, and a clean alternative that can be employed by soil testing laboratories for measuring SOC contents.