Soil-site suitability assessment for major cereal crops in the Ganjigatti sub-watershed, Karnataka using remote sensing and geographic information systems

Abstract

Land evaluation is the assessment of the suitability for specified land uses. Land evaluation and quantitative landuse systems analysis support the planning of sustainable use of land. Twenty-one soil series and their phases (sixty-one)identified and mapped during land resource inventory were evaluated for their soil-site suitability for major cereal crops inGanjigatti sub-watershed, Dharwad district in Hilly zone (zone 9) of Karnataka for sustainable land use planning. The soilseries were AKT (Attikatti), ASR (Adavisomapura), BGD (Bagadgeri), BGH (Bigudihala), BNK (Bhogenagarkoppa), BTP(Bettadapura), GJG (Ganjigatti), HNL (Hirehonnalli), HRG (Harugeri), KDK (Kadanakoppa), KMD (Kamadhenu), KRK(Kuradikeri), MLP (Mahalingpur), MRK (Mishrikoti), MVD (Mevundi), RMN (Ramanhala), SDK (Sangedevarakoppa),SGL (Singtalur), SSK (Surashettykoppa), UGK (Ugginakeri) and YSJ (Yelisirunj). Based on texture, depth, slope, erosion,graveliness and stoniness, the twenty-one soil series were mapped into sixty-one mapping units by using Arc GIS version10.8. The soils were evaluated for potential soil site suitability for major cereal crops viz., rice, wheat, maize, sorghum andpearl millet. Majority of soil mapping units are moderately (S2) and marginally suitable (S3) for cultivation due to moderateto severe limitations in climate, soil, drainage and slope per cent. The soil series BGD and MLP were currently not suitabledue to very severe limitations of soil depth. These results could be used as baseline information for identifying specific soilresource constraints for sustainable production of these cereal crops in the study area.