Land evaluation based on human, economic and physical resources is an important tool for attaining proper
land use planning of various agro-ecological zones especially in arid
terrestrial ecosystem condition area to
ensure that land is not degraded and that it is used according to its capacity
to satisfy human needs for present and future generation. The aim of
this research was to assess land suitability for the production of major crops
in arid terrestrial ecosystem. The study area was carried out Ayrancı district
of Karaman province is about 4760 km2 and located between 577076 m -
596768 m east and 41541331 m – 4174001 m north coordination. Elevation of the
study area locates between 991 m and 1774 m from sea level and long term annual
average precipitation and temperature are 330.8 mm and 12 oC.
According to Newhall simulation model, it was determined that soil temperature
regime is mesic and moisture regime is weak aridic. The land mapping units were
primarily described and land characteristics and qualities were determined
using 1:5.000 scaled soil maps of the study area. Land use types to be
considered were described and their land requirements were determined. The land
requirement of the land use types were compared with the land characteristics
and land qualities of land mapping units. The results of the matching process
combined with those of assessment and produced a classification showed the
suitability of each land mapping unit for each relevant land
use type. The agricultural suitability maps prepared revealed that only 8.4 %
of the study area soils was not suitable for agricultural uses, 57.2 % of the
soils was best suitable for agricultural uses. In addition, 70515.8 ha of the
total study area was not suitable for horticulture cultivation whereas, 9859.1
ha was not suitable for field crop cultivation due to the unfavorable land and
soil conditions. Moreover, about 35.4% of the total area was found non suitable
for vegetable crops in the study area.
Arid land land use type land characteristics and qualities land suitability classification.
Primary Language | English |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | January 1, 2020 |
Published in Issue | Year 2020 |