Characterization and Evaluation of Land Resources for Management of Chandanpardi Watershed in Basaltic Terrain of Nagpur District of Maharashtra using Remote Sensing and GIS

FLand resources were characterized using geocoded False Colour Composite (FCC) of IRS-P6 LISS-IV data in conjunction with Survey of India toposheet on 1:50000 scale. Physiographically, the area has been delineated into isolated mound, subdued plateau, upper and lower pediments, undulating upland and valley plain based on contour information available in the toposheet and the tonal variations in the satellite image supported by field data. Present land use/land cover was characterized into moderately dense forest, scrubland, single and double cropped areas through visual interpretation of satellite data using image interpretation elements. The physiography, slope and present land use/land cover were integrated in GIS to derive 17 physiography-land use/land cover (PLU) units to prepare soil map. Eleven soil series were tentatively identified and characterized. The soils are very shallow to shallow (Entisols) with low available water capacity at upper reaches to deep to very deep clay (shrink-swell) soils with higher available water capacity at lower reaches of the watershed supporting double crop. A large percentage of cultivated area is under kharif (65.4%) and the remaining area is under rabi (34.6%). The main source of irrigation is groundwater. Based on physiography, slope, present land use/land cover and the present groundwater level, the area has been classified into very poor, poor, moderate and good groundwater potential zones. The soils were evaluated for land capability, land irrigability, soil productivity and grouped into IIs, IIIs, IVs and VIIs land capability sub-classes, 2s, 2st and 4s land irrigability sub-classes and poor, average and good soil productivity classes. The soil-site suitability for cotton, pigeonpea, sorghum and soybean indicated that the soils of Chandanpardi-3, Chandanpardi-4 and Chandanpardi-5 are moderately to marginally suitable and soils of Chandanpardi-1, Ahmednagar, Heti-2 and Heti-3 are not suitable. Various management interventions, alternate land use and soil and water conservation measures in different land units have been suggested with judicious use of limited groundwater resources.