Arid Fruit Crops Suitability Evaluation for Drought Mitigation Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques in South Deccan Plateau, Andhra Pradesh, India

In the present study, land suitability evaluation for Mango, Amla, Jamun, Custard apple and Ber were carried out in Inagaluru Panchayat from arid zones of Andhra Pradesh using detailed soil survey (at 1:10,000 scale) information. Eleven soil series were established based on different landforms and soil characteristics. Soil was evaluated based on soil physical and chemical properties. Soils were shallow to very deep, slightly acidic to moderately alkaline (pH 6.1 to 8.6) in reaction and non-saline. The soils were loamy sand to clay and the mean clay content ranged from 10.7 to 38.5%. The mean organic carbon in soils ranged from 0.26 to 0.98% and cation exchange capacity from 6.90 to 24.82 cmol (p⁺) kg⁻¹ soil, respectively. The standard land evaluation criteria have been followed to assess the land suitability for fruit crops. The suitability analysis classified into highly (S1), moderately (S2), marginally (S3), currently not suitable (N1) and permanently not suitable (N2) for different fruit crops in site specific to mitigate the drought.