18 
Table 4. Distribution of different soil associations of Jainti Watershed (Physiographic - Soil Association) 
Mapping 
units 
Physiography 
Slope 
% 
Soil Association 
Area 
(ha) 
(%) 
A 
Isolated, hills/dykes 
10-15 
Loamy Skeletal / Coarse Loamy Typic Ustorthents 
79.29 
0.15 
D 
Crests 
1-3 
Coarse Loamy / L. Skeletal,Typic Ustorthents 
13408.20 
24.61 
L 
Side slopes 
1-3 
Coarse Loamy / Fine Loamy Typic Haplustalfs 
4727.15 
27.03 
P 
Pediments 
1-3 
Fine Loamy / Fine Typic Paleustalfs 
10618.65 
19.49 
M 
Toe slopes 
0-2 
Fine Loamy / Fine Typic Plinthustalfs 
107.82 
0.20 
K 
Depression or valley fills 
0-2 
Fine Loamy / Coarse Loamy Aerie Haplaquepts 
10009.71 
18.36 
G 
Gullied lands 
3-5 
Fine Loamy / Fine Paleustalfs 
3888.23 
7.13 
Others: Road, Rail, River and Settlements 
1653.76 
3.03 
Total 
54492.85 
100 
Doon Valley 
The area lies between the geographical coordinates: 
latitudes 29°50’ N to 30°50’ N longitudes 77°30’ to 
78°29’ E. The area is bounded by the Siwalik hills in the 
south, lesser Himalaya in the north, the river Ganga in 
the east and the river Yamuna in the west respectively. 
Here mapping of soil was carried out by using IRS 1C 
L1SS-111 data on the scale 1:50,000. The level of 
mapping units for 1:250,000 scale is association of 
families, for 1:50,000 scale is association of soil series. 
The dominant soils of the area were Loamy Skeletal / 
Fragmental Typic Udorthents, Coarse Loamy / Fine 
Loamy Dystric / Mollic Eutrochrepts, Fine Typic / 
Mollic Hapludalfs, Coarse Loamy Typic Hapludolls and 
Typic Udipsamments. 
From the above case studies it can be concluded 
that remote sensing technique is operational in soil 
resource mapping and inventory. This is being 
operationally used through out the country under the 
National Project, Integrated Mission for Sustainable 
Development. 
LANDUSE PLANNING 
The landuse planning itself needs to be oriented to 
both land resources condition, as at present, and 
alternative land utilisation practices. It is, therefore, 
obvious that a scientific land and soil resources 
inventory should be the starting point and utility of such 
an inventory is highly enhanced when the same is 
produced by a team of multi-disciplinary resource 
scientists constantly interacting for resource integration 
and evaluation of land having a common objective. Land 
and soil resources investigations are being conducted 
primarily to define soil units/land areas capable of 
sustained and profitable production. Landuse planning 
for different uses namely land capability classification, 
land irrigability classification and soil site suitablility 
evaluation (FAO, 1976) are the systematic land appraisal 
requirements, their distribution and areal extent on the 
basis of similar morphological, physical, chemical 
properties and their suitability for optimum land 
utilisation. 
As already discussed, landuse planning including 
land capability classification, land irrigability 
classification and specific crop suitability evaluation. 
Land Capability Classification 
Land capability refers to broad categorisation of 
land for different land uses. Correct land capability 
classification is the first step towards both good 
agronomy and conservation practices. A good definition 
of what the agronomist and conservationists mean by 
correct land capability class is to use every land/soil unit 
according to its capability for sustained and economic 
production. Land capability classification is to record all 
the relevant data which will lead to a decision as to the 
combination of agricultural use and conservation 
measures which allow the most intensive agronomic 
practices of the land without risk of soil degradation 
(soil erosion etc.). Here only topography (slope, erosion, 
risk of flood etc.), soil morphological properties viz. soil 
depth, soil texture etc. and climate are taken into 
consideration for categorisation (Klingebie! and 
Montgomery, 1961). 
In this system (Klingebie! and Montgomery, 1961) 
land is allocated into eight classes, of which the first 4 
are suitable for cultivation and the remaining 4 are 
unsuitable for cultivation. The criteria for land capability 
classification is given in Table 5, and a brief description 
about different land capability classes is given below: