Izvorni znanstveni članak
Suitability of Agricultural Land for Irrigation on the Territory of Istria County
Stjepan Husnjak
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, Zagreb, Croatia
Vladimir Kušan
; Oikon Ltd. – Institute of Applied Ecology, Zagreb, Croatia
Mario Sraka
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, Zagreb, Croatia
Sažetak
The County of Istria, with an area of 2.813 km2, covers about 90 % of the Istrian peninsula.
It contains 145.350 ha of agricultural land, which is 51,7 % of the county's area. Most of it, or
56,4 %, is unused or neglected agricultural land, and the remaining part, or 43,6 %, is used
for various purposes. Of the total area of agricultural land in certain geomorphological units,
87 % area of White Istria, 60 % of Gray Istria, and 45 % of Red Istria is unused. The aim of
this paper is to show the suitability of soil for irrigation on agricultural land of Istria County.
Soil characteristics are presented based on a Soil Suitability Map of the Republic of Croatia
at a scale of 1:300.000. The suitability of pedosystematic units for irrigation was assessed
according to the FAO Land Evaluation Method. A total of 19 pedosystematic units were
found in the county, which is shown on the map in 22 soil mapping units. The total area of
soils suitable for irrigation in the Istrian County is 78.584,8 ha (68,4 % of the total agricultural
area), of which 2.900,7 ha (2,5 %) belong to the S-1 good suitability class, 53.916,1 ha (46.9%)
belong to the S-2 moderate suitability class, while 21.768,0 ha (19,0 %) belong to the S-3
limited suitability class. There are 36.362,0 ha of unsuitable soils for cultivation (31.6 % of
the total agricultural area), of which 4.906,5 ha (4.3 %) belong to the class U-1 temporarily
unsuitable soils, while 31.455.5 ha (27.3 %) belong to the class U-2 permanently unsuitable
soils. Considering the area of S-1 and S-2 suitability classes for irrigation, and the fact that
46 % of these soils are located on unused agricultural land, it can be stated that in Istria there
are very valuable land resources suitable for planning of intensive and sustainable agricultural
development in conditions of irrigation.
Ključne riječi
Istria County, agricultural land, soil, assessment, irrigation
Hrčak ID:
263051
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.9.2021.
Posjeta: 456 *