Investigating the Effect of Land Characteristics on Yield and Rating of Fig Crop Requirements in Important Cultivated Areas

Identifying land potential and suitability based on soil characteristics is one of the appropriate management tools to increase sustainable land use. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of soil characteristics on fig yield, their rating and the preparation of vegetative requirements table of this plant for land suitability studies by FAO method. Therefore, 94 fig orchards were selected in Fars, Lorestan, Kermanshah and Kerman provinces. In each orchard, a soil profile was studied, a land use questionnaire completed and physical and chemical tests performed on soil samples. The values of soil characteristics were calculated by applying weighting factors with depth in the profiles and multivariate regression between yield and soil characteristics was investigated by stepwise method. The high coefficient of determination of the multivariate model (R2= 0.89, P<0.01) showed that the variables entered in the model were able to determine 89% of the variance related. The results showed that among the measured soil characteristics, the effect of salinity, alkalinity, amount of lime, gypsum, gravel, available phosphorus and potassium was significant on fig yield. Finally, according to the results, soil salinity, alkalinity, amount of gypsum, lime and gravel had a decreasing effect and organic carbon, available phosphorus and potassium had an increasing effect on fig yield.