Multicriteria Analysis of LRI for Assessment of Soil and Land Potential
Zones using Geo-statistical methods
Abstract
Land resource inventory (LRI) of Kumarchincholi micro watershed was
conducted on cadastral base map of 1:7920 and merged imagery of
Cartosat-1 and LISS-IV to find out the Soil and land potential zones.
With the help of surface and profile sample analysis, soil and land
characterization was done to classify the soils into different soil
series with their phase denoted as mapping units. Thematic layers such
as soil texture, depth, slope; erosion, soil organic carbon and soil map
were prepared on cadastral base map. By considering Storie rating of
each parameter of a mapping unit, surface and subsurface features of
soil and land were assigned with different weights as per Analytic
Hierarchic Process (AHP). The soil and land potential zones were
obtained by overlaying all the thematic maps as per weighted overlay
methods using the spatial analysis tool in ArcGIS 10.6.1 as High
potential zone (419.95 ha) and Low potential zone (144.81 ha). Both the
potential zones were assessed with crop suitability categories
established based on LRI finding as S1, S2, S3 & N for major field and
horticultural crops cultivated in the study area. Crops with S1 & S2
category were found falling under High potential zone. Whereas, crops
with S2, S3 &N categories were found falling under Low potential zone.
The outcome of the investigation aims to identify the soil and land
potential zones at micro watershed level for each mapping unit, which
can be scaled up to sub-watershed, where similar mapping units and
conditions are prevailing.