Informatics Publishing Limited

A. Dass , U. S. Patnaik , S. Sudhishri , N. K. Paikaray , V. K. Dwivedi

Abstract

A demonstrative field trial consisting of one common treatment of Lemon grass vegetative barrier and four treatments of four agricultural crops (Finger millet, Black gram, Pigeon pea and Black gram) was conducted under RBD replicated quarterly, at Research Farm of CSWCRTI, Research Centre, Sunabeda. Lemon grass was planted, double row staggered with inter row and intra row spacing of 30 cm across slope as vegetative barrier in integration with small trench-cum-bund at VI of 1.0 m at 4 per cent slope land. Till third year of planting, 74 per cent of clumps survived. Due to increase in clump size, inter-clump-space coverage increased from 16.65 per cent (initially) to 74.67 per cent after 2 years of planting. On an average, it conserved 41.41 t/ha/year of soil. This saved washing off of 236, 7.95, 0.54 and 7.05 kg/ha/year of organic carbon, available N, available P, and available K, respectively. Green biomass yield was 471.8 kg/ha, 1988 kg/ha and 2917.25 kg/ha during the year of planting, one-year after planting and two years after planting, respectively. The corresponding oil yield was estimated as 2.36, 9.94, and 14.59kg /ha, which can fetch additional gross returns of Rs. 826/-, Rs. 3,479/- and Rs. 5,105/-, respectively. Yield of all the crops within 1m distances from the barrier was negatively influenced. However at next 1 to 2m distances, a positive impact of Lemon grass barrier was observed on the economic yield of all the associated crops under trial.

Full Text

     

Narendra Kumar Lenka ¹, D. Mandal ², S. Sudhishri ³

Affiliations
1 Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Research Centre, Sunabeda 763 002, IN
2 Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, 218, Kaulagarh Road, Dehradun 248 195, IN
3 Water Technology Centre, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, IN

Abstract

Land degradation due to water erosion is a major impediment for optimum land productivity in West Bengal (WB). Sustainable development of the state needs appropriate land-use planning taking into account the heterogeneity in soil and land resources. In this study, the maximum permissible soil loss rates (T values) were computed for 115 mapping units of WB by integrating the most sensitive soil indicators such as infiltration rate, bulk density, water stable aggregates, organic carbon and fertility status to assess soil quality governing soil resistibility to erosion. For each mapping unit, indicator soil attribute values were quantitatively expressed in the 0 to 1 scale and an aggregate score was computed from the attribute scores and the corresponding weights. The results suggested a wide difference in the T values among the regions and mapping units, with values ranging from 2.5 to 12.5 Mg ha^-1 yr^-1. In the state as a whole, about 88% of the area has 'T' value of 12.5 Mg ha^-1 yr^-1. The relatively plain lands in the Indo-Gangetic plain, coastal and delta plain and the Bengal basin have a higher soil loss tolerance of about 4.0 Mg ha^-1 yr^-1 than the hilly and undulating regions in the Eastern Himalaya and Eastern plateau regions. The information generated will serve as a useful guide for devising differential conservation and resource use plans on the basis of soil resource potential.

Keywords

Biophysical Model, Physiographic Regions, Soil Erosion, Soil Conservation Planning.

Full Text

   

Mukesh Kumar ¹, A. Sarangi ², D. K. Singh ², S. Sudhishri ², A. R. Rao ³

Affiliations
1 Irrigation and Drainage Engineering Division, ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal 462 038, IN
2 Water Technology Centre, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, IN
3 ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, IN

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive years to develop management alternatives for wheat cultivars (salt-tolerant and salt non-tolerant) cultivated under irrigated saline environment (groundwater, 4, 8 and 12 dS m^–1) and foliar potassium fertigation. The grain yield of wheat cultivars decreased with the increase in salinity levels of irrigation water. The foliar potassium fertigation during the heading stage of wheat cultivars ameliorated the adverse effect of salinity and resulted in the increase in grain yield. In this study, empirical equations for wheat yield known as production function have been developed. The production functions were developed keeping grain yield parameter as output, besides the many input parameters pertaining to quantity and quality of the irrigation water, quantity of potassium applied as foliar spray and rainfall depth during the crop growth period. The production function with higher coefficient of determination (R²) may be used to predict grain yield of both salt-tolerant and salt non-tolerant cultivars under different saline irrigation regimes, rainfall and irrigation water depths, besides the dose of potassium sulphate (K²SO₄) for foliar spray. The production function which gave the highest R² value (i.e. 0.82 for KRL-1-4 and 0.97 for HD 2894 wheat cultivars) could be used for foliar spray under different salinity regimes with high expectation of grain yield. The predicted grain yield and estimated quantity of potassium under different salinity levels of irrigation water may prove useful to different stakeholders for enhancing the wheat yield in high saline water areas. The stakeholders can predict the grain yield under similar circumstances as explained in this experiment and estimate the appropriate potassium doses to be applied for enhancing the wheat yield.

Keywords

Foliar Potassium Fertigation, Irrigation Water, Production Function, Salt-Tolerant Cultivar, Wheat Yield.

Full Text