Agro- Ecological Zoning and Evaluation of Ecological Potencies of South Khorasan for Jujube Plantation

The ever increasing population, increase of demand, limited source of water and land, etc., has made determining a suitable planting method in different area with regard to climate, edifice, soil, and water limitations which are the main concerns of Agriculture managers. Choosing a suitable species with regard to dominant condition, and the potentiality of the area can increase both production efficiency and taking the burden of extra, unnecessary expenses, such as expenses for environmental stresses, pests, and diseases, from the shoulders of the farmers and garden owners. This research was done for the purpose of locating and potentiality detection of fertile lands for planting jujube in South Khorasan Province by using GIS and Remote Sensing as well as statistical and analytical techniques. Since elevation is a fixed physical parameter in the passage of time and also effective in climate parameter and conditions, soil formation, etc., in this research topographic maps (scale 1:25000) and ASTER Satellite Sensor Images were used to prepare Digital Elevation Model for the whole province with the elevation accuracy of 15 meter as the base of the research. Using climate analyses and the relationship between various climate parameters and DEM were determined; and using analytical function available in the applied software ARCGIS relevant maps were produced; water sources maps, soil type and land use were digitized. Using AHP the relative importance of effective parameters on the growth and production of Jujube species were determined and finally relative importance maps for Jujube planting in South Khorasan Province was gained. Accuracy output of the models was evaluated by using field of visitation available applied maps and calculating Kappa so efficiency. Results showed that the produced map has enough accuracy and that from the whole area of South Khorasan Province (94112 km2) about 20 percent of it (18850 km2) has suitable potentiality and high potentiality for planting Jujube.