Geo-spatial approach in soil and climatic data analysis for agro-climatic suitability

208 Pages·2008·4.77 MB·English

GEO-SPATIAL APPROACH IN SOIL & CLIMATIC DATA
ANALYSIS FOR AGRO-CLIMATIC SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT
OF MAJOR CROPS IN RAINFED AGRO-ECOSYSTEM

(A CASE STUDY OF PARTS OF MADHYA PRADESH)

ADITI SARKAR
2008

AGRICULTURE AND SOILS DIVISION
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF REMOTE SENSING (NRSA)
DEPARTMENT OF SPACE. GOVT. OF INDIA
4, KALIDAS ROAD, DEHRADUN
GEO-SPATIAL APPROACH IN SOIL & CLIMATIC DATA ANALYSIS
FOR AGRO-CLIMATIC SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT
OF MAJOR CROPS IN RAINFED AGRO-ECOSYSTEM

(A CASE STUDY OF PARTS OF MADHYA PRADESH)

Thesis submitted to the Andhra University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
Master of Technology in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System.

ANDHRA UNIVERSITY

by
ADITI SARKAR

Supervised by

DR.SURESH KUMAR DR.N.R. PATEL

AGRICULTURE AND SOILS DIVISION
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF REMOTE SENSING (NRSA)
4, KALIDAS ROAD, DEHRADUN
CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms.Aditi Sarkar has carried out the pilot project titled “Geo-Spatial
approach in Soil and Climatic Data Analysis for Agro-climatic Suitability Assessment of major
crops in Rainfed Agro-ecosystem (A Case Study of parts of Madhya Pradesh)” in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of Master of Technology in Remote Sensing and GIS by the
Andhra University. The project presented here in this report is an original work of the candidate
and has been carried out from Agriculture and Soils Division under the able guidance of Dr. Suresh
Kumar and Dr. N.R. Patel, at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehra Dun, India. It is
recommended that the thesis be accepted for evaluation and award of M.Tech Degree.

Supervisors:

Dr. S.K. Saha Dr. Suresh Kumar
Head
Agriculture and Soils Division
Dr. N.R. Patel

Dr.V.K.Dadhwal
Dean, IIRS
Abstract

India’s economic backbone is constituted by agriculture, which is mostly rain-fed in nature.
These regions have limited access to irrigation, because of which the agricultural developmental
planning in rainfed agro-ecosystem is often complicated by extremely diverse agro-climatic
conditions. Continuous augmentation in demand has put severe strains on the limited natural
resources thereby threatening the ecological balance. This foresees adequate resource management.
Soil being an integral component of agro-ecosystem varies in type, quality and capability with
varying climatic constraints. Climatic constraints when used in conjunction with soil resource
information provide a sound basis for assessing agro-climatic suitability. Agro-climatic suitability
assessment is gaining weightage as an important basis for sustainable agricultural developmental
planning for rainfed agriculture. Soil and climate based agro-climatic suitability analysis enables to
identify areas with permutation of homogenous climatic and soil conditions for which proper
landuse planning strategies can be implemented.

In recent years GIS has provided much-required spatial dimension to natural resource
management and planning. GIS technology proved useful for integration of bio-climate, terrain and
soil-resource-inventory information.

In the present study, the agro-climatic suitability of three important rainfed landuse types,
viz. LUT-1 (Pigeon pea), LUT-2 (Sorghum) and LUT-3 (Soyabean) with a geo-spatial approach
was evaluated by analysing and integrating soil and climatic constraints. The suitability of soil in
terms of its productivity along with climatic suitability in terms of LGP (length of growing period)
and water limited yield potential was assessed. The impact of climate on soil suitability (FAO
framework based) improvement was determined. In applying the GIS linkages for crop suitability
analysis, the target was to achieve optimum utilisation of available land and climatic resources for
sustainable rainfed production.

Keywords: Landuse/ land cover; Soil Suitability; Potential Evapotranspiration; Water Balance;
Spatial and Crop Specific LGP; Crop Suitability; Agro-Climatic Suitability Assessment.

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Acknowledgements

At the onset, I would like to convey my sincere thanks and gratitude to the entire
Agriculture and Soils Division of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, for providing
me with the platform to undergo Masters of Technology in Remote Sensing and GIS in this reputed
institute.
I hereby extend my heartiest gratefulness to Dr.V.K.Dadhwal, Dean, IIRS, for his
unrelenting and appreciative encouragement and effort towards providing all the necessities and
support in terms of facilities and encouragement.
I would specially consider the constant support and guidance from my supervisors,
Dr.Suresh Kumar, Dr.N.R.Patel, Agriculture and Soils Division, IIRS. Hereby I thank them for
their inexorable patience and supervision during the project work. They have been supportive
throughout the project tenure giving me constant views related to project work. It was a complete
learning process with both my extremely proficient guides.
Here I make a special endeavour to thank the proficient faculty of the Division of
Agriculture and Soils, Dr.Jitendra Prasad and nonetheless the divisional head Dr.S.K.Saha for their
competence and support through the training period as well as the project duration.
Dr.A.Velumurugan needs to be specially thanked for his technical guidance and support all
through the tenure of the project without which, the completion of the project would have been
tremendously complicated.
A special gratitude is due towards Director, NRSA, for providing a 7-month Student
Research Assistantship during the project tenure.
I would extend my thankfulness to Mr. Rajesh Sharma and Mr. G.D. Bairagi, scientists of
Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology, for their relentless cooperation in providing
data and information during my field visits.
Lastly but not the least, I must express my thankfulness to dear friends Vidya A., Smita
Majumdar, Saurabh Varma, for their constant support and spirit livening presence. Gautam Ghosh
indeed deserves a special mention concerning his immense help during the last phase of the project.
My friend Swati Saini must be thanked for the help she rendered me in completion of my project.
Tushar Zanje, Rahul Patil and Hrushikesh Chavan do deserve gratitude for their patience, which
was counted at all stages of my project. Special thanks are due to Subroto Nandy, JRF, Forestry and
Ecology Division for his time-to-time help.
Last of all I would sincerely concede the support, love and inspiration dispensed over me
by my family during the training programme. It would never have been possible for me to complete
this project without their presence overall.

Place: DEHRADUN ADITI SARKAR
Date: M.TECH (ASD DIVISION)

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DEDICATED
TO MY
BABA, MA, SISTER

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Table of contents

1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….………………………..…1-7
1.1 Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Generating Soil and Landuse Information…...2
1.2 Role of GIS……………………………………………………………………………….5
1.3 Objectives………………………………………………………………………………...7
2. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………8-34
2.1 Characterisation of Rainfed Areas………………………………………………………..8
2.2 Soil Water Balance Studies……………………………………………………………….9
2.2.1 Soil Water Relations…………………………………………………………….9
2.2.2 Available Soil Water…………………………………………………………...12
2.2.3 Evapotranspiration……………………………………………………………..13
2.2.4 Potential Evapotranspiration…………………………………………………...13
2.2.5 Crop Coefficient and Length of Growing Period………………………………14
2.3 Remote Sensing Applications in Landuse/ Land cover Analysis……………………….15
2.4 Remote Sensing and GIS Applications in Soil Resource Management…………………19
2.4.1 Soil Resource Inventory and Land Evaluation…………………………………21
2.4.2 Agro-ecological Zoning………………………………………………………..27
2.4.3 Agro-climatic Suitability Analysis…………………………………………….29
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3. STUDY AREA……………………………………………………………………………35-43
3.1 Location……………………………………………………………………………….35
3.2 Geology………………………………………………………………………………..38
3.3 Physiography………………………………………………………………………….38
3.4 Agro-climate…………………………………………………………………………..39
3.5 Drainage………………………………………………………………………………40
3.6 Natural Vegetation…………………………………………………………………….41
3.7 Soils……………………………………………………………………………………41
3.8 Agriculture and Landuse………………………………………………………………42
4. DATA USED AND METHODOLOGY…………………………………………….…44-88
4.1 Data Used……………………………………………………………………………....44
4.2 Methodology……………………………………………………………………………46
4.2.1 Preparation of Landuse/ Land cover………………………………………….48
4.2.2 Creation of Soil Database…………………………………………………….55
4.2.3 Climatic Database…………………………………………………………….58
4.2.4 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………63
4.2.5 Climatic Potential Yield Estimation………………………………………….81
4.2.6 Soil Suitability Evaluation……………………………………………………82
4.2.7 Analysis of Agro-climatic Crop Suitability Assessment……………………..87
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5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS………………………………………………………89-144
5.1 Landuse/ Land cover Mapping…………………………………………………………89
5.2 Preparation of Digital Soil Database…………………………………………………...96
5.2.1 Preparation of Digital Soil Map………………………………………………96
5.2.2 Available Water Holding Capacity…………………………………………...98
5.3 Climate Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………103
5.3.1 Length of Growing Period……………………………………………………106
5.4 Soil Suitability Analysis……………………………………………………………….117
5.4.1 Soil Productivity Assessment………………………………………………..117
5.4.2 FAO framework of Land Evaluation for Crop Suitability Analysis…………123
5.4.3 Soil Productivity Index based on crop suitability assessment……………….130
5.4.4 Climatic Yield Potential (Water Limited Yield Potential) Suitability Analysis…133
6 CONCLUSION…………………..………………………………………….………145-148
7 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………..149-161
8 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………….i – xxxiv

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List of Tables

2.1 Conventional classification of Rainfed Agro-ecosystem based on moisture index………….....8
3.1 Agro-ecological sub regions with their salient features………………………………………..35
3.2 District wise agro-climatic regions and crop zones…………………………………………....42
3.3 District wise cropping pattern………………………………………………………………….42
3.4 District wise total area and area classification in Madhya Pradesh (2003-2004)……………...43
4.1 Satellite data specification……………………………………………………………………..44
4.2 Characteristics of AWiFS data…………………………………………………………………44
4.3 Ancillary data used……………………………………………………………………………..44
4.4 Signature separability matrix…………………………………………………………………..54
4.5 Adjustment co-efficients at 5° interval ………………………………………………………...60
4.6 Adjustment co-efficients at 1° interval…………………………………………………………60
4.7 Rating for soil moisture factor (H)……………………………………………………………..83
4.8 Rating for drainage factor (D)………………………………………………………………….84
4.9 Rating for soil depth factor (P)…………………………………………………………………84
4.10 Rating for soil texture factor (T)……………………………………………………………….84
4.11 Rating for base saturation factor (N)…………………………………………………………...85
4.12 Rating for CEC factor (A)……………………………………………………………………...85
4.13 Soil productivity classes………………………………………………………………………..86
4.14 Soil-site characteristics with corresponding land qualities…………………………………….86
5.1 Features of agro-ecological zones covering the study area ………………………………........89
5.2 Landuse/ land cover (kharif season) distribution in the study area …………………………...90
5.3 District wise distribution of area (%) under the dominant landuse types .……………………..93
5.4 Areal distribution of landuse (Kharif ) in AESR zones 10.1 and AESR 5.2…………………...95
5.5 Distribution of physiographic units in various districts………………………………………..96
5.6 District wise distribution of area (%) under AWHC classes…………………………………..101
−
5.7 Mean (X ) and SD (δ) of the estimated AWHC over the Physiographic Units
5.8 AESR zone-wise spatial LGP (days) with district coverage…………………………………..109
5.9 Areal extent of spatial LGP over Madhya Pradesh……………………………………………110
5.10 Areal extent of spatial LGP over study area……………………………………………………111
5.11 Distribution of area (%) in various LGP classes for various LUTs…………………………....115
5.12 Percent areal extent of soil productivity with respect to various physiographic units….……..119
5.13 District wise areal distribution in percentage of soil productivity……………………………..119
5.14 Distribution of kharif landuse/ land cover with their soil productivity…………………..……120
5.15 AESR zone-wise distribution of soil productivity (Area in %)…………………………..……121
5.16 Distribution of suitability class for LUT-1 (Pigeon pea)…………………………………..…..124
5.17 Areal distribution of LUT-1 (Pigeon pea) suitability based on physiographic units…………..125
5.18 Distribution of suitability class for LUT-2 (Sorghum)………………………………………...126
5.19 Areal distribution of LUT-2 (Sorghum) suitability based on physiographic units…………….126
5.20 Distribution of suitability class for LUT-3 (Soyabean)………………………………………..127
5.21 Areal distribution of LUT-3 (Soyabean) suitability based on physiographic units……………128
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