Soil Suitability for Growing Horticultural Crops in Kanamadi South Sub-Watershed of Karnataka

Abstract

The suitability of the land resources in the watershed for various crops is necessary to choose the right crop and variety suitable for the area. In carrying out this assessment, the specific land requirements of a crop are compared with the characteristics of land resource mapped in the sub- watershed with this objective  investigation was carried to assess land suitability for growing horticultural crops in Kanamadi South sub-watershed of Vijayapura district of Karnataka. The soil survey was conducted using 1:7920 scale, LISS IV satellite imagery.  The soils were shallow to deep with clay loam to clay in texture. The soils were low in nitrogen and organic carbon, low to medium in phosphorus and sulphur, medium to high in potassium. Iron, copper, zinc and manganese were sufficient. Land suitability evaluation revealed that soils were moderately suitable for growing fruits such as guava (73.75% TGA), pomegranate (70.73% TGA), sapota (85.65% TGA). In case of flowers, major part of the study area was marginally suitable for crops such asrose (65.26% TGA) and jasmine (91.72% TGA). Around 11.55 per cent of the area was evaluated as unsuitable for growing fruit crops. The consideration of depth and nutrient status of soil in sub-watershed area is ideal to grow the horticultural crops like fruit crops with soil conservation measures to obtain food sustainability and nutrition level of people living the study area.