Locating Potential Zones for Cultivating Stevia rebaudiana in Mexico: Weighted Linear Combination Approach

• Published in: Sugar tech : an international journal of sugar crops & related industries Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 206 - 218
• Main Authors: Silva-Gallegos, Juan José, Aguirre-Salado, Carlos Arturo, Miranda-Aragón, Liliana, Sánchez-Díaz, Guillermo, Valdez-Lazalde, José René, Pedroza-Carneiro, José Walter, Flores-Cano, Jorge Alberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-04-2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Alternative crops; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Boolean algebra; Earth resources technology satellites; Image classification; Land use; Landsat satellites; Life Sciences; Pixels; Remote sensing; Research Article; Satellite imagery; Sensitivity analysis; Soil conditions; Soils; Spatial resolution; Stability analysis; Studies; Sweeteners; Mexico; Fuzzy membership function; Expert judgment; Weighted linear combination approach; Multi-criteria decision analysis
• ISSN: 0972-1525; 0974-0740; 0972-1525
• DOI: 10.1007/s12355-016-0446-x

In order to search for alternative sweeteners for human beings, researchers are recently focusing their attention to find natural sweeteners that have low caloric values and are highly beneficial for the health.
Stevia rebaudiana
is one of the alternative crops as it produces steviol glycosides with high intense sweeteners. This study introduces a novel application of weighted linear combination approach at pixel level for locating potential zones for cultivating the
S. rebaudiana
in the Huasteca Potosina region of Mexico. Climatic, topography, soil conditions as well as the proximity to roads for transporting the product were considered the essential requirements for this crop, while soil type and the available land obtained from a classification of Landsat imagery (2014) and Boolean land-use constraints were investigated as spatial constraints. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the stability of outcomes under two approaches: equal weights for the factors and different weights obtained from experts. The results revealed that the area with very high land suitability determined by the expert judgment approach is decreasing which in turns impose restrictions on the cropping of
S. rebaudiana
. Therefore, this research allowed determining land suitability at pixel level for cultivating
S. rebaudiana
in the Huasteca Potosina region at the spatial resolution of 30 m.