DEVELOPING SOIL QUALITY INDEX TO ASSESS LAND SUITABILITY FOR IRRIGATED WHEAT

What is it about?

There are many methods to make a land-use evaluation for agriculture, they must take into account sustainable development (mitigate environmental impacts, preserve scarce resources) and economic competitiveness. However, conventional land evaluation for assessing the appropriateness of land for specific use like agriculture is still costly and time-consuming. So far, no scientific information on the combination of soil quality indicators for optimum crop yields in Algeria which lead to low crop yields. Efficient land use could be described as the adoption of the best combination of soil quality indicators and the achievement of a reasonable yield while preserving soil and environmental conditions. Therefore, the work undertaken in the present study is consistent with the 'Sustainable Development Goals' proposed by the United Nations Open Working Group.

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Photo by Raphael Rychetsky on Unsplash

Photo by Raphael Rychetsky on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Efficient land use management could be optimized through appropriate advice regarding land suitability and achieving a reasonable yield while preserving soil and environmental conditions. Two maps of land suitability were created here (expressed as a soil quality index within a range from 0 to 1) from multivariate analysis and already known standard scoring functions (SSFs) by using two datasets (pure and scored). Therefore, it could be applied in southern Algeria for land management, integrated planning, and environmental assessments.

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