Abstract:
Detailed information on spatial variability of soil properties is important for the decision making in site specific soil
management and land use planning. Available coarse scale classical soil maps are insufficient to provide information
for such requirements. Therefore, the soil variability needs to be investigated to provide detail soil information. The
objectives of this study were to spatially characterize soil properties in a dry zone soil catena and to determine the
impact of present land uses on the variability of soil properties. A dry zone catena consists of uncultivated lands and
cultivated with paddy and vegetable lands was selected as a study area. Latin hypercube sampling technique was used
to collect 58 soil samples. Soil samples were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity
(CEC) and texture. Summery statistics were calculated and statistical tests were performed to determine the land use
impacts on soil properties. Semivariograms for each property were calculated and theoretical models were fitted
using Variowin software. Continuous maps were constructed using ordinary point kriging interpolation technique.
Normality test indicated that all the properties were normally distributed. Large coefficient of variation values
indicated a considerable heterogeneity o f soil properties within the catena. The relative nugget effect (RNE) values of
pH (8.25 % ), EC (7.41 % ), sand (1 2 % ), CEC (50.9 % ), silt (50.5 % ) and clay (29 % ) revealed a high to moderate
spatially structured variability for soil properties. Range of spatial dependencies of soil properties ranged from 193 to
650 m. Kriged maps further explained the variation of soil pH, EC and CEC in uncultivated and cultivated land uses and
clay and silt enrichments were observed in vegetable lands and paddy lands, respectively.
