IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, "Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India, 2002 
EVALUATION, CHARACTERISATION AND MANAGEMENT OF SOIL - WATER 
RELATED CONSTRAINTS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE : AN INTEGRATED 
APPROACH USING REMOTE SEN SING AND GIS 
V.K. Verma **, L. B. Patel *, P.K. Sharma *, G.S. Toor ^, Vinay Singh © 
* Punjab Remote Sensing Centre, PAU Campus, Ludhiana, Punjab, India - (vip_verma@rediffmail.com) 
® Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Delaware, Townsend Hall, 
Newark, DE 19717-1303 - (gurpal @udel.edu) 
* Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, RBS College , Bichpuri, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra, India 
KEY WORDS: Sustainable Agriculture, Soil, Groundwater, Remote Sensing, GIS 
ABSTRACT: 
The arid and semi arid zones of north and north west India harbour a large variety of problems associated with soil and water 
management due to brackish ground water, sandy terrain, wind erosion, poor retention of water and nutrients, soil salinity associated 
with waterlogging etc. Even under best possible soil and water management practices, one or the other soil degradation processes 
operate at a perceptible pace resulting in such a degradation that the term "desertification" is popularly used to describe these 
regions. It calls for assessment and integration of land and water resources and identification of constraints at micro level. In this 
context, integrated approach using remote sensing and GIS offers technologically the appropriate method of studying land and water 
resources, characterising the coherent agricultural zones and identifying constraints for sustainable agricultural management. In view 
of this, the soil and ground water quality maps were prepared, digitised and integrated using ILWIS 2.1 GIS to identify and map soil 
and water related constraints for sustainable agriculture in Faridkot district (Punjab), India. The study indicates that coarse textured 
soils and soil salinity associated with waterlogging pose physical and hydrological constraints. Chemical constraints, due to salinity, 
alkalinity and sodicity in ground waters is also a major cause of concern in the area. Based on soil and water constraints, the site 
specific action plan map for has also been generated. 
1.INTRODUCTION 
The growing concern of agricultural sustainability expressed 
during the last two decades of the twentieth century is being 
carried into the twenty first century because of the shrinking 
arable land resources, rapidly increasing population, transfer of 
arable land to other uses and degradation of land and water 
resources. The concept of sustainable agriculture becomes 
pertinent and takes on a new dimension when viewed in the 
context of limits to resource availability and use (Dumanski ef 
al. 1992). The United Nations Conference on Environment and 
Development (UNCED,1992) in its Agenda 21 deliberated on 
seven issues related to sustainable agricultural production and 
efficient use of natural resources, especially soil and water. In 
this context, Government of India is giving high priority for the 
inventory of both sandy and salt affected soils and proper 
exploitation of water resources. In view of this, an attempt has 
been made to generate and integrate the thematic information to 
identify and map constraints related to soil and water resources 
for sustainable agricultural development in Faridkot district of 
Punjab, India. 
2. STUDY AREA 
The study area covering 1440 sq. km., cover two blocks 
namely Faridkot and Kotkapura of Faridkot district, Punjab. It 
forms a part of the Indo-Gangetic plain varying in age from 
Pleistocene to late Holocene period. The area represents two 
types of climate viz., 'Semi arid and less hot' which qualifies 
for Ustic soil moisture regime and Hyperthermic soil 
temperature regime and ‘'Arid and hot' which qualifies for 
‘Aridic’ soil moisture regime. Soil moisture regime 
computations using Newhall mathematical model indicate that 
the southern part of the area has “weak aridic' moisture regime 
(Van Wambeke, 1985). 
3. METHODOLOGY 
The flow chart (Fig. 1) gives the methodology followed. The 
IRS-1C LISS-III geocoded satellite data of March, 1998 in the 
form of false colour composites was visually interpreted to 
identify and map physiographic units. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
BASE MAP 
| 
| | 
IRS LISS III FCC GROUND WATER 
SAMPLE COLLECTION 
| | 
INTERPRETATION, FIELD ANALYSIS FOR 
WORK, ANALYSIS, CHEMICAL 
SOIL-PHYSIOGRAPHY CONSTITUENTS 
RELATIONSHIP 
| | 
SOIL RESOURCE MAP GROUND WATER 
OUALITY MAP 
  
  
  
  
  
DIGITISATION & 
INTEGRATION USING ILWIS 
RESOURCE CONSTRAINT MAP 
  
  
  
  
SITE SPECIFIC 
RECOMMENDATIONS 
  
  
  
  
Figure 1. Paradigm of the approach 
    
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