Research and Optimization of Soil Major Nutrient Prediction Models Based on Electronic Nose and Improved Extreme Learning Machine

Keeping the levels of soil major nutrients (total nitrogen, TN; available phosphorous, AP; and available potassium, AK) in optimum condition is important to achieve the goals of precision agriculture systems. To address the issues of slow speed and low accuracy in soil nutrient detection, this study developed a prediction model for soil major nutrients content based on an improved Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) algorithm. This model utilizes a soil major nutrients detection system integrating pyrolysis and artificial olfaction. First, the Bootstrap Aggregating (Bagging) ensemble strategy was introduced during the model integration phase to effectively reduce prediction variance through multi-submodel fusion. Second, Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) were employed for sample augmentation, enhancing the diversity and representativeness of the dataset. Subsequently, a multi-scale convolutional and Efficient Lightweight Attention Network (ELA-Net) was embedded in the feature mapping layer to strengthen the representation capability of soil gas features. Finally, adaptive hyperparameter tuning was achieved using the Adaptive Chaotic Bald Eagle Optimization Algorithm (ACBOA) to enhance the model’s generalization capability. Results demonstrate that this model achieves varying degrees of performance improvement in predicting total nitrogen (R2 = 0.894), available phosphorus (R2 = 0.728), and available potassium (R2 = 0.706). Overall prediction accuracy surpasses traditional models by 8–12%, with significant reductions in both RMSE and MAE. These results demonstrate that the method can rapidly, accurately, and non-destructively estimate key soil nutrients, providing theoretical guidance and practical support for field fertilization, soil fertility assessment, and on-site decision-making in precision agriculture.