Vol. 12, Special Issue 12 (2023)

Author(s):
K Basavaraj, NL Rajesh, Krishna Desai, Sachin RG, Sahana and Chaitra

Abstract:
A case study was conducted to evaluate land resources of Dabarabad sub-watershed located in North eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka (Zone-2) in semi-arid region of Kalaburagi taluka and district under Sujala-III project, which is sponsored by the Watershed Development Department of Karnataka and funded by World Bank. The analysis and interpretation of the non-spatial and spatial database generated has given that majority of the area suffer from major constraints. In most of the areas, very shallow (<25 cm) to shallow depth (25-50 cm), very gently sloping (1-3%)with moderate erosion and alkalinity affected even up to 60-80% of thesub-watershed area followed by gravelly (15-35%), thus reducing the production potential and crop choices. The fertility status of soils revealed that majority of soils were low in organic carbon content (<0.5 %), medium (23-57 kg/ha) in phosphorus (P₂O₅) and high (>337 kg/ha) in potassium (K₂O). Most agricultural and horticultural crops can be grown in soils that are either marginally (S3) or moderately (S2) suited because the levels of zinc (<0.6 ppm) and iron (<2.5 ppm) are below the critical limit. The best management options (optimal land use plans) were determined by analyzing various management scenarios and integrating land resource data with remote sensing and GIS techniques.