A farm-scale approach to soil resource inventory for crop productivity and land restoration in KRP Dam Catchment, Tamil Nadu, India Srinivasan R.1,*, Chandrakala M.1, Thilagam V. Kasthuri2, Maddileti N.3, Abhilash P.C.4 1ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Bangalore-560024, Karnataka, India 2ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Karumalai Chettipalayam, Veerakeralam, Coimbatore-641007, Tamil Nadu, India 3ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Bangalore-560024, Karnataka, India 4Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, Uttar Pradesh, India *Corresponding author email id: srinivasan.surya@gmail.com
Abstract Over-exploitation of natural resources for agriculture has reduced crop productivity, unsustainable growth, and severe land degradation. Land use has changed over a period mainly based on irrigation, which has enhanced agricultural productivity, whereas excessive irrigation degraded soil quality and the ecosystem. A detailed soil survey at farm scales at 1:10,000 was carried out in the KRP dam catchment from 2019 to 2021. Paddy ecosystems in the catchment are suspected to be major sites for soil degradation, demanding a detailed study to understand the changes in soil quality on excess irrigation. The detailed soil survey, 4-tier approach, satellite image interpretation, ground truth observation (soil survey fieldwork), laboratory analysis, and GIS mapping were carried out. After completion of the soil survey, Ten (10) soil series (management units) were established in the KRP dam catchment. Major land and soil problems are mapped into different themes viz., slope, drainage, soil depth, texture, available water content, soil reaction (pH), EC, Organic carbon, nutrients status, calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and sodicity. Excess irrigation and continuous inundation in the KRP dam catchment resulted in increased salt concentration in different depths of the soils. About 51.68%, 26.07% and 2.87% area occupied slight (<5%), moderate (5-15%) and high (>;15%) sodicity, respectively. The extent and distribution of soil problems and crop suitability can be used to design and implement appropriate site-specific soil and water conservation measures and crop management interventions to cultivate highly suitable crops in the KRP dam catchment area. Top Keywords Soil resources, KRP dam, Soil properties, Crop suitability, Land restoration. Top |