Land Resource Inventory for Village-Level Agricultural Land Use Planning

Timely and reliable information on soils with respect to their nature, extent and spatial distribution is vital for optimal utilization of natural resources on a sustained basis. The technological advances in the field of remote sensing, global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) have augmented the efficiency of land resource inventory and mapping. The recent advances in remote sensing have immense potential to explore the full range of spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions of high-resolution satellites in soil resource mapping and characterization. In the present study, based on landforms, slope, land use/land cover and ground truth, 37 physiography-land use units (PLU) were identified and described. Soil profiles were studied at representative sites on different PLUs for characterization of various sites and physical and chemical properties. PLU-soil relationship was developed by correlating soil-site characteristics and physical and chemical properties of soils. Six soil series were identified in major landforms, and soil map depicting phases of soil series was developed. The study revealed that the combined use of Cartosat-1 Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (10 m) and high-resolution IRS-P6 LISS-IV data will be of immense help in identifying distinct soil patterns for large-scale soil resource inventory for village-level agricultural planning.