J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2008) 36:183-188 183 123 Distribution Analysis of Salt Affected Soils under Canal and Non-canal Command Area in a Part of Etah District, U. P., using Remote Sensing Technique A. K. Singh . P. K. Singh . B. Lal . A. N. Singh . A. Mathur Received: 13 August 2007 / Accepted: 23 December 2007 Keywords Salt affected soils . Command area . Remote sensing Abstract A World Bank-aided project on sodic land reclamation in Uttar Pradesh is being executed by U.P. Bhumi Sudhar Nigam, Lucknow, and Remote Sensing Applications Centre, U.P., Lucknow has the responsibility of sodic land mapping for the execution of land reclamation programme at the cadastral level. Sodic lands are mainly concentrated in the Gangetic alluvial plains but the problem of sodicity is particu- larly acute in the canal-irrigated areas. A study of the distribution pattern of sodic lands in canal and non- canal command areas in a reclamation site (covering 60 villages out of which sodic lands were mapped in 51 villages) of Etah district in Uttar Pradesh, indi- cates that 18.39 per cent area of the canal command villages was barren sodic which was 13.41 per cent of the total geographical area of the site (15417 ha), however, 11.69 per cent area was recorded to be bar- ren sodic in the non-canal command villages which was only 3.16 per cent of the geographical area of the site. The results of soil chemical analysis indi- cate that barren sodic lands of canal command area are saline-sodic with higher concentration of soluble salts (pH 2 >8.5, EC 2 >4 dSm –1 ), however, those of non-canal command area are sodic (pH 2 >8.5, EC 2 <4 dSm –1 ). The post-monsoon ground level in the canal-irrigated areas was in the critical and semi- critical zone (< 3.0 mbgl) whereas it was well below the semi-critical zone in the non-canal command area, which indicates that the high ground water level is a major factor to higher the area under sodicity. A. K. Singh 1 () . P. K. Singh 2 . B. Lal 2 . A. N. Singh 2 . A. Mathur 2 1 JNKVV Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Katni - 483 442, India 2 Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Lucknow - 226 021, Uttar Pradesh, India e-mail: singhak123@rediffmail.com J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2008) 36:183-188 RESEARCH ARTICLE Photonirvachak