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Mapping of Agro-Ecological Zones of North-West India in Context to Climate Change Using Geographical Information System

Mohan Singh1and R.K Aggarwal1*

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.13.1.08

A study was conducted to quantify agro-climatic and agro-ecological zones in north-west India using 34 years (1980-1914) weather data of twenty two agro-meteorological stations of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The weather data and the coordinates were converted into decimal system for each meteorological station, for spatial analysis. The map of north-west India was digitized and thermal, humidity, rainfall and moisture index and Length of growing period layers were prepared in the GIS environment using Arc GIS 10.1. These layers were combined by union operation and polygons were grouped into different zones. The moisture index and length of growing period zones were integrated with other spatial input layers of soil texture on logical manner to demarcate different agro-climatic and agro-ecological zones and sub zones. Based on texture the soils of study area were broadly characterized in five classes. North-west India was divided into ten agro-climatic zones as Z-1 to Z-10 and thirty six sub agro-ecological zones which represent homogeneity with respect to climate, growing periods and soil texture, which covers all features of abiotic crop environment. These zones helped to adjust cropping season according to moisture, temperature, vegetations and their combination regime. A shift in climatic belt was observed towards south-west as moist sub humid zone in Haryana which did not exist in old climatic map of Haryana. Itwas a new zone noticed in this state. The south-western limit of dry sub humid zone shifted about 40 km and of semi-arid zone shifted to about 60 km. The study will be very useful in the planning of farming system as well as cropping systems and may fill the gaps in ecological zonation of the area.


Agro-climatic zone; Ecological zone; GIS; Zoning; North-west India

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Singh M, Aggarwal R. K. Mapping of Agro-Ecological Zones of North-West India in Context to Climate Change Using Geographical Information System. Curr World Environ 2018;13(1). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.13.1.08

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Singh M, Aggarwal R. K. Mapping of Agro-Ecological Zones of North-West India in Context to Climate Change Using Geographical Information System. Curr World Environ 2018;13(1). Available from://www.a-i-l-s-a.com/?p=1073/


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Received: 2018-03-07
Accepted: 2018-04-12

Introduction

Climate is the composite of all the day-to-day weather conditions in a region over a considerable time. This time period should ideally be long enough to establish relevant statistical information necessary to describe the variations in a region.1Climate may be thought of as an average of weather conditions over a period of time including the probability for distributions from this average.2,3Climate is determined by three key factors the amount of energy the climatic system receives from the sun, the way in which this energy is distributed throughout the system and the degree of interaction between the various components of the system.4Knowledge of climate is a valuable aid in the agriculture which including horticulture development, planning of a region, climate and weather are key factors in agriculture production.5,6In some cases like rainfed production systems as much as 80%, of the variability of agricultural production is due to the variability in weather conditions.7,8

Agriculture crops grow best in locations where the climatic conditions meet their growth requirements.9因为土地苏itability analysis requires the use of different kind of data and information viz; soil, climate, topography etc. as compared to the Geographical Information System (GIS) offers a flexible and powerful tool than conventional data processing systems.9,10A framework of agro-ecological zoning describing concepts, methods and procedures was conceptualized for the first time.11Agro-climatic classification is a technique that allows the simplification and generalization of climatic data to define climatic types in terms of basic climatic parameters so that it may evolve homogenous and traditional climatic regions.12This zoning may help to adjust cropping season according to moisture, temperature, vegetations and their combination regime. When temperature and moisture layers superimposed on the soils maps it bring out Agro-climatic zones in term of climatic parameters and soils characteristics. These zones indicate ecological conditions and agricultural potential in respect of temperature or moisture conditions of the area or the region.

的climatic classification needs to be revisited at least once in 30 years; may be more frequently in future since more warming trends have been projected for future.13Such an exercise may not reveal a substantial change in the overall area under different climates, even then may reveal spatial shifts of climatic zones, which has bigger implications for crop planning, water resources assessment and launching of special schemes on drought and floods including disaster management.13的re are observable changes identified in some subtypes of climates, especially semi-arid, savanna and tundra during the period 1961-1990.14

Climatic Agro-climatic zoning have been done by several workers.15,16Each of these zoning has qualitative or quantitative criteria, or both, for delineation of its climate. Based on temperature, precipitation and native vegetation Koppen15divided the world climate into five zones. Thornthwaite16improved upon Koppen’s method by introducing the concept of water balance which was further improved by Thornthwaite and Mather.17Subramanyam18and Subramanian19adopted the modified criteria for mapping climates of India in term of moisture and thermal regions. Rao etal.20classified India’s climate according to the Thornthwaite and Mather method. Based on rainfall distribution pattern, the agricultural commission21描述成不同的降雨groups and chose limits that have a closer relation with crop development. Planning commission22has divided India into fifteen major agro-climatic zones based on similarity in rainfall, temperature, soil topography, cropping, farming system and water resources. Murthy and Pandey23tried to delineate different agro-ecological regions of India. Patel.24and Patel等.25used the modern information tools like remote sensing and GIS to extend applicability of agro-ecological zoning in mountainous areas of Kumaon Himalayas. Bal等.26carried out agro-ecological zoning for the entire state of Punjab using remote sensing and GIS. Zoning divides the area into smaller units based on distribution of social, land surface, climate; and the level of detail to which given on the scale of the study, and sometimes on the facilities.27FAO27distinguishes agro-ecological cells are the basic units for land evaluation and data processing, from the ecological zones, which are spatial units related to a soil map. While each has a unique combination of soil and climatic characteristics, related to particular soil type, agro-ecological zones may contain a number of sets of characteristics, relating to different soil types within the same mapping unit.27Sometimes, broader definitions are applied to agro-ecological zones, to encompass several soil mapping units and climatic zones with similar, but not identical, properties.27Kunkel.28provide a complete description of the analytical procedures used to determine length of growing season trends.29的agro-ecological zoning and mapping of North-West India of the present study will provide a detailed base for the planning of agriculture and horticulture cropping systems and may also fill the gaps left over in the earlier studies.

Materials and Methods

Study Sites

Twenty two meteorological stations, Srinagar, Jammu (Jammu & Kashmir), Manali, Shimla, Palampur, Solan (Himachal Pradesh), Ranichauri (Uttarakhand), Ludhiana, Bathinda Patiala (Punjab) Chandigarh, Ambala, Karnal, Rohtak, Sirsa, Hisar, Bawal, Narnaul (Haryana) Delhi, Ganganagar, Jaipur (Rajasthan) Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) located in north-west India were selected for the study. The experimental site was the north-west India (Fig 1) which approximately is located between 26040′ to 37010′ N latitude and between 72050′ and 81000的经度。的altitude of area varies between 200 to 8600 meters above mean sea level. Total area of the site is approximately 5 lakh square km out of this 1000 thousand hectare is covered under the fruit crops. It has geographic features like the cold desert, the coldest place on the earth30the Higher Himalaya, the Middle Himalaya, the Lower Himalaya, the Shiwalik hills, semi desert sandy plain & the Aravali range and the hot Thar Desert.

的geographical information of all the stations is given in Table 1. Based on the altitude, the study area was divided >1000 meters as hills: Srinagar, Manali, Shimla, Palampur, Solan and Ranichauri and < 1000 m as Plains: Jammu, Chandigarh, Ambala, Saharanpur, Delhi, Karnal, Patiala, Ludhiana, Rohtak, Bathinda, Hisar, Sirsa, Bawal, Narnaul, Ganganagar and Jaipur.

Data Collected

Daily maximum and minimum temperature, Rainfall, evaporation and relative humidity data of twenty two locations,viz.,Manali, Shimla, Solan, Chandigarh, Ambala, Saharanpur, Delhi, Karnal, Patiala, Ludhiana, Rohtak, Bathinda, Hisar, Narnaul, Ganganagar and Jaipur for the year 1980 to 2014 and at Srinagar, Palampur, Ranichauri, Ranichauri, Sirsa, Bawal from 1985 to 2014, were used. These data were collected from (IMD), Central Research Institutes for Dry Land Agriculture (CRIDA), Revenue Departments, State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), Regional Research Stations (RRS), Regional Horticultural Research Stations (RHRS) etc. The maximum and minimum temperatures and monthly mean temperature for each station wereused for the computation of potential evapotranspiration in the Thornthwaite method.16的rainfall and Potential Evapotranspiration (PET )was used to calculate the moisture index.

Table 1: Geographical Information of Different Meteorological Stations

S. No.

Station

Latitude

Longitude

Altitude (m)

Division

1

Manali

32.27

77.17

2050

Hills

2

Palampur

32.12

76.53

1219

3

Ranichauri

30.06

78.99

1950

4

Shimla

31.11

77.17

2397

5

Solan

30.92

77.12

1600

6

Srinagar

34.09

74.79

1600

7

Ambala

30.38

76.78

264

Plains

8

Bathinda

30.23

74.95

201

9

Bawal

28.08

76.58

266

10

Chandigarh

30.75

76.78

321

11

Delhi

28.62

77.21

216

12

Ganganagar

29.92

73.88

178

13

Hisar

29.15

75.71

215

14

Jaipur

26.91

75.81

431

15

Jammu

32.73

74.87

327

16

Karnal

29.69

76.98

245

17

Ludhiana

30.91

75.85

244

18

Narnaul

28.01

76.01

308

19

Patiala

30.34

76.38

350

20

Rohtak

28.89

76.57

220

21

Saharanpur

29.96

77.54

268

22

Sirsa

29.53

75.01

205

Calculation of PET

Potential evapotranspiration was computed by the Thornthwaite method16 which is the best among different empirical approaches as used by many workers for estimation of PET over several location of India31,32.
PET = 1.6 (10T/l)a (D/12) (N/30)
For a month consisting 30 days and 12 hours a day, the above equation can be written as:
E = 1.6(10T/I)a
Where,
E = Unadjusted PET, cm/month
T = Mean air temp, °C
I = Annual heat index. It is the summation of 12 values of monthly heat indices i.
i = (T/5)1.514
a = an empirical exponent computed by an expression given as,
a = 6.75x10-7 I3 -7.71x10-5 I2 +1.79x10-2I + 0.49239
For daily computation the equation is modified as:
PET = (KxEx10)/30 (mm/day)
Where, K = Adjustment factor

Calculation of Moisture Index

Moisture indices typically are function of the ratio of time averaged precipitation to time averaged moisture demand by the atmosphere. The moisture index given by Thornthwaite16 is well known, simple and typical used by researchers to describe the soil moisture status33 was chosen to calculate moisture index (MI) in this present study.
MI = (P-PET)/PET
Where,
P - Precipitation;
PET- Potential evapotranspiration

Calculation of Length of Growing Period (LGP)

的LGP is the period in days during a year when rainfall exceeds half the potential evapotranspiration plus a period during which half of PET is met by assured estimated stored moisture.34Following formula was used in the present study:LGP = d(P ≥ PET/2) + 2ASM/PET

Where,

d = day and
ASM= Assured Stored Soil moisture

Delineation of Ecological Zones

的nature of analysis, which involves the combination of layers of spatial information to define zones, lends itself to application of a GIS. The major requirements of computerized GIS for an activity like agro-ecological zoning and zonal resource information of mountain areas are topographic maps, land resource maps and contour maps. These maps, containing physiographic, geographic, and bio-climatic information form primary inputs. Various outputs are generated in both tabular and map forms. Thermal, humidity, rainfall and LGP maps were prepared in the GIS environment using Arc GIS 10.1. To finalize the zoning, these layers were combined by union operation and polygons were grouped into different zones. The grouping of polygons was based on suitability or favorability of concerned parameter (MI/LGP) for selected crops. After this the moisture index and length of growing period zones were integrated with other spatial input layers of soil texture on logical manner (Fig 2) to demarcate different agro-climatic and agro-ecological zones and sub zones. The hard copy of the map of the study area was digitized and shape file was created. Then NW India polygon shape file was selected. The latitude-longitude values of each point were find out and converted to degree-decimal format to enter in GIS. The coverage file (point) was then generated from the location data in Arc info GIS. The collected and analyzed data entered as attribute table and attached/joined to the point file already generated. Then the point file was interpolated by GIS tools and converted to raster format by krigging/radial basis interpolation function and hence different maps are generated, transported to the MS word for further use.

Figure 1: Location of the Study Sites
Click here to view figure

Figure 2: Methodology for Ecological Zonation Mapping
Click here to view figure


Results and Discussion

Agro-Climatic Zones

气候地图包括五区(Perhumid,哼id, Sub-humid, Semi-arid and Arid) and LGP map comprises of five zones (<120 days, 120-180 days, 180-240 days and >240 days) were used to delineate agro-climatic zones. Ten (Z-1, Z-2, Z-3, Z-4, Z-5, Z-6, Z-7, Z-8, Z-9 and Z-10) agro-climatic zones have been generated through overlaying of these two maps in GIS software ArcMap GIS ver 10.1 (Fig 3.1). Central part of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh with per-humid climate and more than 240 days of growing period was covered under Z-10. Surrounding of Z-10 a small area of northern Uttar Pradesh, southern Uttarakhand and west central of J&K was covered under Z-9 with humid climate and more than 240 days of growing period. Northern area and southern fringe of Uttarakhand and a small northern strip of Punjab and central J&K surrounding Z-9 were covered under Z-8 zone with humid climate and more than 180-240 days of growing period. North-eastern J&K (Kargil, Leh and Ladakh) and a small part of northern Himachal Pradesh were covered under Z-7 zone with cold arid climate and less than 120 days of growing period. Central part of Uttar Pradesh, northern Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh and south-western J&K covered under Z-6 zone with sub-humid climate and 180-240 days of growing period. A small area of western Uttar Pradesh, south-western Punjab and most western strip of J&K were covered under Z-5 area with sub-humid climate and more than 120-180 days of growing period. Small area of south-western Uttar Pradesh, northern Haryana and central Punjab were covered under Z-4 with semi-arid climate and more than 180-240 days of growing period (Table 3.1). South-western Uttar Pradesh, fringe of northern Rajasthan, Delhi, major part of Haryana and central Punjab covered under Z-3 with semi-arid climate and 120-180 days of growing period. Zone-2 covered north east Rajasthan, part of Haryana and Punjab with semi-arid climate and less than 120 days of growing period. North western Rajasthan, portion of south-western Haryana and Punjab were covered under Z-1 zone with hot-arid climate and less than 120 days of growing period.

Agro-Ecological Zones

Agro-climatic map comprises ten zones and soil map comprises of five zones were overlayed and logically combined in raster module; the resultant layers obtained were the agro-ecological zones. The north-west India has been divided into thirty six sub agro-ecological zones shown in Figure 3.2. The general characteristics of different agro-ecological zones have been briefly described in Table 3.2. Each zone represents homogeneity with respect to climate, growing period and soil texture. Arid (hot) zone comprised of three sub agro- ecological zones, semi arid zone and sub humid zone each comprised of eight, arid (cold) comprised of five, humid comprised of nine and per-humid zone comprised three sub agro ecological zones (Table 3.2).

Table 3.1:Agro-Climatic Zones of North-West India

S. No.

Name of zone

Symbols

M I (%)

LGP (days)

1

Arid (Hot)

Z-1

< -66.7

<120

2

Semi-Arid

Z-2

-66.7 to -33.4

<120

3

Semi-Arid

Z-3

-66.7 to -33.4

120-180

4

Semi-Arid

Z-4

-66.7 to -33.4

180-240

5

Sub-Humid

Z-5

-33.4 to 20.0

120-180

6

Sub-Humid

Z-6

-33.4 to 20.0

180-240

7

Arid (Cold)

Z-7

> -66.7

<120

8

Humid

Z-8

20.0 to 99.0

180-240

9

Humid

Z-9

20.0 to 99.0

>240

10

Per-Humid

Z-10

≥100

>240


Climatic Shift

的climate zones delineated (Fig 3.3.2) when it was compared with the old climate Map (Fig 3.3.1) prepared by Sehgal35indicate shift in climatic belt of in north–west India. These Figures shows that there was a climate shift from north-east to south-west of area under study. It was observed that the moist sub humid zone shifted from sub Himalaya to Shiwalik hills in Haryana state. The south-western limit of dry sub humid zone shifted about 40 km and of semi-arid zone shifted to about 60 km towards south-western direction. This shift might be due to increase in rainfall as discussed earlier which caused increase in potential evapotranspiration, ultimately moisture index, which was taken as the basis of zoning. Based upon moisture index Mavi36delineated seven agro-climatic regions of Punjab, and assessed the suitability of each of the regions for growing crops with and without irrigation. Significant reflections resulting from the study of Raju等.13indicated a substantial increase of arid region in Gujarat and, a decrease of arid region in Haryana.

Figure 3.1: Agro-climatic zones
Click here to view figure


Discussion

Soil texture classes were digitized based on hard soil maps and spatial distribution of soil texture in north-west India. The soils of study area were broadly characterized in five classes based on texture using GIS (i) long moist, black organic, under developed, sand to sandy soil (ii) limited moist, under developed sandy and clay in sub soil (iii) limited moisture in July, under developed, saturated with ground water, clay loam, high clay with cracking nature (iv) Dry, under developed, low organic, sandy gravels, sandy loam, erosion soils (v) Limited moisture, July-September, sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils. Similarly, Padma等.(2012) studied the remote sensing applications and GIS techniques for mapping of land use. Vinod37used the remote sensing and GIS techniques for soil texture mapping in Haryana.

Figure 3.2: Agro-ecological zones
Click here to view figure


气候地图包括五区(Perhumid,哼id, Sub-humid, Semi-arid and Arid) and LGP map comprises of five zones (<120 days, 120-180 days, 180-240 days and >240 days) were used to delineate agro-climatic zones. Ten agro-climatic zones have been generated through overlaying of these two maps (Climate and LGP) in the Arc/Info for north-west India. These ten zones have been named as Z-1, Z-2, Z-3, Z-4, Z-5, Z-6, Z-7, Z-8, Z-9 and Z-10, which had homogeneity with respect to climate and length of growing period. A shift in climatic belt was observed towards south-west when it was compared with old map as moist sub humid zone did not exist in old climatic map of Haryana and it was a new zone noticed in this state. Similar studies were done by Mavi36who delineated seven agro-climatic regions of Punjab, Balet. al.,26also prepared an agro-ecologic map of Punjab by overlaying of thermal and LGP map layers and the planning commission22has divided India into fifteen major agro-climatic zones. Based on temperature, rainfall and length of growing period Naidu等.,38had categorized lands as highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable and unsuitable for production of mango, banana, sweet orange, acid lime and cashew in Andhra Pradesh.Agro-climatic map comprises of ten zones and soil map comprises of 5 zones were overlayed and logically combined in raster module, the resultant layer obtained was the agro-ecological zones. North-west India has been divided into thirty six sub agro-ecological zones. Each zone represents homogeneity with respect to climate, growing periods and soil texture, which covers all features of abiotic crop environment. Similarly Manorama等.,39delineated suitable agro-ecological zones in plateau region of India for estimation of potential yield of potatoes and Patelet. al.,25delineated agro-ecological zoning in mountainous areas of Kumaon Himalayas. Sehgal等.,35prepared the agro-ecological map of India using physiographic, soils, bio-climate, and the length of growing period; through several approximations. Map shows that there was a climate shift from north-east to south-west of area under study. Lu等.,40observed similar shifting results in China.

Table 3.2: Characteristics of Agro-Ecological Zones

S. No.

Agroclimatic

Zone

Sub Agro-

Ecological Zone

Moisture

Index

(%)

Soils

LGP

(days)

1

Arid (Hot)

(Z-1)

AHZ 1

< -66.7

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

<120

AHZ 2

< -66.7

Dry, sandy gravels, sandy loam, eroded soil

<120

AHZ 3

< -66.7

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

<120

2

Semi-Arid

(Z-2)

SAZ 1

-66.7 to -33.4

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

<120

SAZ 2

-66.7 to -33.4

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

<120

SAZ 3

-66.7 to -33.4

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

<120

3

Semi-Arid

(Z-3)

SAZ 4

-66.7 to -33.4

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

120-180

SAZ 5

-66.7 to -33.4

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

120-180

SAZ 6

-66.7 to -33.4

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

120-180

4

Semi-Arid

(Z-4)

SAZ 7

-66.7 to -33.4

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

180-240

SAZ 8

-66.7 to -33.4

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

180-240

5

Sub-Humid

(Z-5)

SHZ 1

-33.4 to 20.0

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

120-180

SHZ 2

-33.4 to 20.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

120-180

SHZ 3

-33.4 to 20.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

120-180

SHZ 4

-33.4 to 20.0

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

120-180

6

Sub-Humid

(Z-6)

SHZ 5

-33.4 to 20.0

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

180-240

SHZ 6

-33.4 to 20.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

180-240

SHZ 7

-33.4 to 20.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

180-240

SHZ 8

-33.4 to 20.0

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

180-240

7

Arid (Cold)

(Z-7)

ACZ 1

< -66.7

Long moist, black organic, sand to sandy

<120

ACZ 2

< -66.7

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

<120

ACZ 3

< -66.7

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

<120

ACZ 4

< -66.7

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

<120

ACZ 5

< -66.7

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

<120

8

Humid

(Z-8)

HZ 1

20.0 to 99.0

Long moist, black organic, sand to sandy

180-240

HZ 2

20.0 to 99.0

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

180-240

HZ 3

20.0 to 99.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

180-240

HZ 4

20.0 to 99.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

180-240

HZ 5

20.0 to 99.0

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

180-240

9

Humid

(Z-9)

HZ 6

20.0 to 99.0

Long moist, black organic, sand to sandy

>240

HZ 7

20.0 to 99.0

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

>240

HZ 8

20.0 to 99.0

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

>240

HZ 9

20.0 to 99.0

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

>240

10

Per-Humid

(Z-10)

PHZ 1

≥100

Limited moist, sandy with clay in sub soil

>240

PHZ 2

≥100

Clay loam to clay with cracking nature

>240

PHZ 3

≥100

Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils

>240

Figure 3.3.1: Climatic zones during 1992
Click here to view figure

Figure 3.3.2: Climatic zones during 2014
Click here to view figure


Conclusions

研究区域的土壤是广泛的特点in five classes (i) Sand to sandy soil (ii) Sandy and clay with sub soil (iii) Clay loam, high clay with cracking nature (iv) Dry, sandy gravels, sandy loam, erosion soils (v) Sandy loam to loam, alluvial soils. North-west India was divided into ten agro-climatic zones and thirty six sub agro-ecological zones. These zonesrepresented homogeneity with respect to climate, growing periods and soil texture covering all features of abiotic crop environment. A shift in climatic belt was observed towards south-west and the south-western limit of dry sub humid zone shifted about 40 km and of semi-arid zone shifted to about 60 km towards south-western direction.

Acknowledgements

Ram米米博士提供的支持和指导and Dr. Anurag, Department of Ago-meteorology, HAU, Hisar is highly acknowledged.

Conflict of Interest

的re is no conflict of interest.

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