Abstract

Land suitability assessment was conducted for flue-cure Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) in an area including 2880 ha in Talesh site in Guilan province, north of Iran. Using the findings of the semi-detailed soil studies for this area, 18 land units were selected. Then morphological and physico-chemical properties were determined. The results showed that soils were in three orders (Inceptisols, Entisols and Alfisols). The simple limitation method, the limitation method regarding number and intensity (second method) and the parametric methods including the Square root and the Storie methods were used for qualitative land suitability evaluation. Results of simple limitation method and the limitation method regarding number and intensity showed similar marginally suitability classes (S3). According to these methods, the major limiting factors were climate (total rainfall), fertility (pH and CaCO₃) and physical soil (texture) characteristics. In addition, the results of Storie method showed unsuitable condition (N2) for all of land units. The results of root square method showed non-suitable but correctable conditions (N1) for 13 land units and unsuitable condition (N2) for other land units. Based on these results (especially on those obtained with the parametric square-root method, which seems to be the best), the cultivation of tobacco cannot be recommended for this area.

Key words: Flue-cure tobacco, land suitability, qualitative land evaluation, soil characteristics.