Thumbnail Image

Spectroscopy: towards eco and human friendly soil analysis

ITPS Soil Letters #4

Year of publication 2021

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 3p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Journal, magazine, bulletin

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) A study conducted by the FAO Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) showed that most standard chemical analyses have medium or high risks to human health, can contribute to environmental pollution and are often costly, requiring a range of different equipment and chemicals. These issues can mostly be avoided through the development of quicker and less expensive detection methods. This letter aims to show how spectroscopy can offer a fast, reliable, and environmental-friendly method to provide the large soil information databases necessary for decision making in sustainable agricultural systems.

Full ITPS soil letters series

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Booklet
    A course on applied data analytics for soil analysis with infrared spectroscopy
    Soil spectroscopy training manual 2
    2025
    Also available in:
    This document provides a comprehensive guide to the process of soil spectroscopic modelling, from data acquisition to interpretation, with a focus on using R for analytical modelling. It covers the entire workflow involved in generating reliable predictions of soil properties from spectral data, including data preprocessing, exploratory analysis, calibration, model training, and validation. Practical examples in R are provided throughout, illustrating key steps such as spectral transformation, principal component (PC) analysis, and multivariate regression techniques for predictive modelling. These steps help convert raw spectral data into actionable insights, allowing users to estimate soil attributes like organic carbon (C), clay content, and mineral composition. The document introduces well-known mathematical transfer functions, which correlate spectral wavelengths to soil properties, and how these models can be calibrated using conventional laboratory analysed reference data. Additionally, it explores the challenges of interpreting complex infrared spectra, especially the overlapping absorption bands in the vis-NIR region, and provides strategies to overcome these difficulties. It emphasizes the use of chemometric tools, such as partial least squares (PLS) regression, to extract meaningful relationships between spectral features and soil attributes. This document is the second in a series of three training materials designed to guide users through basic, intermediate, and advanced topics in soil vis-NIR and MIR spectroscopy. The content is aimed at equipping researchers, practitioners and soil laboratory technicians with the knowledge and tools needed to apply spectroscopic techniques for soil analysis, with a focus on practical implementation using R.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Booklet
    A primer on soil analysis using visible and near-infrared (vis-NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy
    Soil spectroscopy training manual #1
    2022
    Also available in:
    “A primer on soil analysis using visible and near-infrared (vis-NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy” is the first training material on the topic of soil spectroscopy for beginner levels, by the Global Soil Laboratory Network Initiative on Soil Spectroscopy (GLOSOLAN-Spec) of the Global Soil Partnership, FAO. This document provides an introduction to the use of soil spectroscopy for soil analysis and covers the basic and fundamental procedures for using this technology for soil analysis. The series “Soil spectroscopy training material” is part of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) to strengthen the capacity of laboratories in soil analysis. It provides a series of training materials covering wide range of topics in soil vis-NIR and MIR spectroscopy. The overall objective is to develop national and regional soil spectral libraries with an estimation service, and to provide advisory services on appropriate instrumentation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Meeting
    Report of the First Plenary Meeting on soil spectroscopy of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN).
    GLOSOLAN spectroscopy-I/20/Report. Virtual meeting, 23-25 September 2020
    2020
    Also available in:
    No results found.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.