Need for site specific land resource database for integrated watershed management Lalitha M., Dharumarajan S.*, Natarajan A., Niranjana K.V., Srinivas S., Naidu L.G.K., Sarkar Dipak1 ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Hebbal, Bangalore-560024 1ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Amravati Road, Nagpur-440033 *E-mail: sdharmag@gmail.com
Online published on 23 September, 2016. Abstract Lack of site specific land resource database is main limitation for success of any watershed programs. Detailed site-specific land resources database and associated socio economic studies help to identify the inherent potentials and constraints of watershed for drawing appropriate natural resource management plan. The present study was carried out in Muttala watershed, Atmakur Mandal, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh to demonstrate the applicability of site-specific land resource database for watershed management. The high resolution satellite data of Cartosat-1 merged IRS LISS IV data in conjunction with cadastral map (1: 10000 scale) was used for identification of soils and different management units. Seven soil series were identified in the watershed and mapped into 33 management units. Each management unit is unique with respect to properties and requires specific soil and water conservation plan and management to improve the plot wise productivity. Soil erosion from each management unit was estimated and maximum study area of 469.2 ha is found under moderate erosion class (5-10t ha−1) followed by very severe (20-40t ha−1) class of 399.7 ha. Similarly, various other land resource constraints and potentials were assessed and appropriate soil and water conservation measures were suggested. The database also serves as baseline database for enabling departments to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of watershed development programs in the area. Top Keywords Management unit, Remote sensing data, Soil database, Soil erosion, Watershed characterisation. Top |