Soil climatic analogues of rapeseed and mustard, potato and lentil in Assam

Analogous areas for rapeseed and mustard, potato and lentil have been traced out in Assam by superimposing monthly rainfall and mean temperature maps on soil suitability maps of the respective crops. The analogous zones for the crops have been categorized as 'most suitable', 'suitable', 'fairly suitable', 'moderately suitable', 'marginally suitable' and 'unsuitable' according to the degree of suitability of the classes for the crops. It is found that almost the entire North Bank of the Brahamaputra is suitable for rapeseed & mustard whereas in the South Bank suitable agroclimatic environments for the crop are comparatively few. Potato can be grown in most parts of the state excepting the major part of Hill zone, Barak Valley zone and southern parts of Kamrup and Goalpara districts. Lentil can be grown within a selected region of the state particularly the districts of LBVZ, NBPZ, CBVZ and parts of UBVZ. These analogous maps will help to select a more profitable crop for a given locality thereby enhancing the productivity of the crops.