Use of Different Techniques in Evaluation of Suitability of Shrink-Swell Soils of Nagpur District, Maharashtra for Rainfed Sorghum

Simple limitation method and multiplicative parametric method (both Boolean logic-based methods) and fuzzy logic-based method were used in determining suitability of ten (10) shrink-swell soils of Nagpur district for rainfed sorghum cultivation and assess their performance. The simple limitation method was rather limiting in that it lowered the overall suitability class and as a result did not match well with actual crop performance. The multiplicative parametric method yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.62 between land indices and yield and did not perform very well either. This was mainly because the weightages assigned to land characteristics were experience-dependent and thus subjective in nature. Moreover, the weightages assigned were most generalized and did not consider the local conditions. A better correlation (r = 0.91) was observed between fuzzy land index and yield, as the fuzzy logic-based method minimises human bias and generates estimates for land use suitability on a continuous scale, which hints at the superiority of the method.