IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India, 2002
SI. | Soils series Soils Suitability sub class for various crops
No. Paddy Chillies | Cotton Cashew | Coconut | Eucalyptus
1 Yamleru SI S2n S2n S3nf S1 S1
2 Uppu-1 S1 S2nf S2nf S3nf Sl S1
3 Agam S3nfs Ninf Ninfs Ninf Nin S2n
A Mattegunta S1 S2nf S3nf S3nf S1 S1
5 Uppu-2 S3n Ninf Ninf Ninf S3nf S2n
6 Gollapalem | N2 N2 N2 S3sf S3swf S3swf
Table.3 Suitability subclass of soils for various crops
On comparing the land characteristics with crop requirements
the various land units of the study area were categorised into
suitability order, classes and sub classes. The two orders S-
Suitable and N-Not suitable reflect the kind of suitability and
were further categorised according to degree of suitability into
three classes S1-Suitable, S2-Moderately suitable and S3-
Marginally suitable under order S and two classes NI-
Presently not suitable, N2-Permanently not suitable under order
N.
The results (Table 3) of the study indicated that the soils of old
tidal plains were suitable (S1) for paddy, coconut and
eucalyptus plantations; moderately suitable (S2) for chillies,
cotton and were marginally suitable (S3) for cashew plantation.
The swale plains soils (Agam and Uppu-2 series) which, have
salinity sodicity hazard were found marginally suitable (S3) for
paddy cultivation, presently not suitable (N1) for cotton,
chillies, cashew and coconut plantations; where as moderately
suitable (S2) for eucalyptus plantation. The soils of Mettegunta
were found suitable (S1) for paddy, coconut and eucalyptus
cultivation and marginally suitable (S3) for chillies, cotton and
cashew cultivation. The beach ridges, which are sandy in
nature, were found permanently not suitable (N2) for paddy,
chillies and cotton cultivation and were marginally suitable for
cashew, coconut and eucalyptus plantation. These suitability
classes were categorised into sub-classes based on the kind of
limitation the land unit had like salinity/sodicity (n), soil
fertility (f), physical soil limitation (s) and wetness (w). Further
based on results of land evaluation of various crops and existing
land use pattern information a land use plan was suggested for
the study area indicating the most suitable agriculture,
horticulture, agro-forestry crops for sustainable development
(Table 4).
SI. | Soils series Suggested land use
No Agriculture Horticulture /Agro
forestry
1 Yamleru Paddy, Cashew
chillies cotton
2 Uppu-1 Paddy, Cashew
chillies,
cotton
3 Agam Paddy Eucalyptus, coconut
(STV*) prosopis, acacia
4 Mattegunta | Paddy, Eucalyptus, coconut,
chillies prosopis, acacia
3 Uppu-2 Paddy (STV) | Eucalyptus, coconut,
prosopis, acacia
Eucalyptus, cashew,
coconut, casurina and
prosopis, mangrove
(along the coast)
6 Gollapalem | -
*SAT-Salt Tolerant Variety
Table 4 Suggested land use for the study area
4. CONCLUSIONS
The paper describes the utility of high-resolution satellite data
such as merged data of IRS IC LISS III and PAN for mapping
of coastal saline soils on 1:25,000 scale at series level by
following stratified random sampling procedure and further use
of this information for land evaluation. This remote sensing
approach of land evaluation is quite rapid and efficient for
characterising the soils-site conditions, as the frequency of field
observations for characterising the soil-site conditions are
guided largely by the variations in spectral, spatial and temporal
characteristics of images.
The soils of the study area varies in physical, chemical and
morphological properties in relation to land form. Soils
developed on old tidal plains are very deep, moderately well
drained fine textured and are normal soils with sub soil salinity,
where as the soils developed on swale plains though are very
deep and moderately well drained are relatively coarse in
texture and have salinity and sodicity hazard. The soils of beach
ridges are mostly sandy in nature, excessively drained and
support only crops like cashew, eucalyptus, casurina and
coconut. Consequently, wide variability in suitability of various
crops have been observed in these soils. This variability in
suitability of crops at different locations is attributed to the
changes in different soil-site properties (except climate, which,
is comparable at all sites) and also due to specific crop
requirements of each crop.
The dominant soil-site characteristics that influenced the
suitability of various crops in the study area were
salinity/sodicity, fertility, physical soil limitation and wetness.
Paddy crop suitability found to vary from suitable to marginally
suitable, except in sandy soils, which were not suitable. Chillies
and cotton crops were found to be moderately suitable in
normal and slightly saline soils where as in all other soils these
crops were found not suitable. Cashew, coconut and Eucalyptus
suitability also varied as per the soil-site condition and were
found marginally suitable for growing on sandy soils.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present study is a part of research conducted under the
National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP-MM/III-2).
Authors are grateful to Indian council of Agricultural Research,
NATP, New Delhi for funding the Project. The general research
and logistic support of the scientists of Indo-Dutch Network
Project, Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University, Bapatla,
Andhra Pradesh during ground data collection for this study is
also gratefully acknowledged.
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