Assessment of Soil Organic Carbon Content Based on Lightness Values Measured by a Low-Cost Color Sensor
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57260/stc.2026.1239Keywords:
Organic carbon, Color sensor, Microcontroller, Soil sampleAbstract
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between soil color values and percent organic carbon (%OC) content using a low-cost TCS34725 color sensor integrated with ESP32 microcontroller. A total of 50 soil samples were collected and analyzed for color in the RGB system, which was subsequently converted to the CIELAB color space. %OC content was determined using the Walkley-Black method, and soil pH was also measured to support the analysis. The soil samples exhibited an average pH of 6.6 (range 5.42-7.75), corresponding to slightly acidic to neutral conditions, and %OC contents ranging from 0.059 to 1.091 %OC. The results revealed that the lightness (L*) in the CIELAB system showed a statistically significant negative correlation with %OC (p-value = 1.25 × 10-7). A linear regression model, %OC = 0.868 – 0.0148L*, was developed to estimate %OC content, yielding R² and RMSE values of 0.4445 and 0.1796, respectively. These findings indicate that the color sensor can serve as a rapid and cost-effective preliminary tool for estimating %OC. However, other CIELAB color parameters (a*, b*) and the R×G×B product did not exhibit statistically significant correlations with %OC. Analysis of the relationship between pH and both color values and %OC showed no significant statistical correlation, suggesting that pH is not a primary factor affecting soil color in this study.
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