Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(4): 2590-2596 2590 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.804.301 Land Evaluation of Kabirabad 2 Micro-Watershed in Northern Eastern Transition Zone of Karnataka, India N.V. Manjunath 1* , Ashok S. Alur 1 , B.V. Shreenivas 2 , P.K. Naikodi 2 and M. Shivanna 1 1 Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Horticulture, Bengaluru-05, India 2 Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Horticulture, Bidar-01, University of Horticulture Sciences Bagalkot-04, Karnataka, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Food security, environment protection and prosperity of the people depend greatly on sustainable management of soil resources. Estimated degraded land in the country is around 44% (Mythili and Goedecke, 2015) this is alarming. Soil/land degradation has become major problem across the country and needs proper evaluation for its suitability to various agricultural and allied practices. Improper use of soil resources without suitable management leads to its degradation echoing the concern of planners, researchers and farmers’ alike (Bhattacharyya et al., 2015). Therefore it is very much essential to enhance the productivity of soil to meet the future demand of burgeoning population. Soil resource inventory through characterization and soil classification provides detailed information on soil and its related properties. In the recent past, concept of watershed based holistic development has emerged as one of the potential approaches (Sharda, 2011) in rainfed areas which could lead to higher productivity and sustainability in agricultural International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 04 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com A study was undertaken to evaluate eight soil series belonging to Kabirabad 2 micro- watershed in Bidar district in Northern Eastern Transition Zone of Karnataka State for sustainable land use planning. Seven soil series were tentatively identified and mapped into eight mapping units using GIS technique. These mapping units were grouped into land capability class II and VI with limitations of erosion, drainage and physico-chemical properties. Soil-site suitability evaluation lowland and midland were moderately suitable (S2) for cultivation of field crops like sorghum, red gram, green gram, bengal gram, black gram and soybean with moderate limitations of drainage and fertility while upland area were marginally suitable (S3) for cultivation of these crops. Whereas, horticulture crops like mango, guava, sapota, custard apple and lime were not suitable (N) in upland because of sever limitation of depth, whereas, in low land and mid land these crops were moderately suitable (S2) with moderate limitations of rooting depth and texture. Keywords Micro-watershed, GIS, Soil site suitability Accepted: 17 March 2019 Available Online: 10 April 2019 Article Info