Agro-climatic zones of the Jammu Siwalik

Sharm a, R.R., Kaul, M.N. Agro-climatic zones of the Jammu Siwalik Transactions of the Institute of Indian Geographers Volume 27, Issue 2, June 2005, Pages 31-43

Abstract - An attempt has been made here to divide the Jammu Siwalik into agroclimatic zones in order to have an understanding of the cropping system that may he suitably adopted in such a region. For delineation of the Siwalik into agroclimatic zones broad pedogeomorphological divisions (soil), moisture adequacy index and agricultural productivity have been taken into consideration. The agricultural productlivity of the region has been worked out according to Bhatia's (1967), productivity method and moisture adequacy index has been estimated on the basis of Subrammanyam's from (1963) model. To test the weightage of these two components, the residuals from regression matrix have been applied to evaluate the results. On the basis of these estimated values, a macro agroclimatic map of the area has been prepared It was later superimposed on pedogeomorphological map of the area. Thereby three macro and seven micro agroclimatic zones have been obtained. The region is dominated by Alfisols, Ultisols, Entisols and Inceptisols with sand loam, clay loans, loam and silt loam texture which support the cultivation of wheat, maize, rice, bajra, oilseeds and pulses. The moisture adequacy index ranges between 0.70 and 0.97, with udic, ustic and xcric soil moisture regime.