Not Available

Not AvailableIN A TWO YEAR (1982-84) FIELD STUDY ON BARREN SODIC SOIL , THE SOIL WATER (0-240 CM DEPTH) AND TEMPERATURE REGIMES OF THE RIDGE TRENCH SYSTEM (RTS) WERE COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE USUAL FLAT SURFACE PLANTING SYSTEM (FSPS) . OUT OF 295 AND 585 MM OF MONSOON RAINFALL IN 1982 AND 1983, THE SOIL WATER CONTENT INCREASED BY 88 AND 132 MM IN RTS AS AGAINST 58 AND 79MM IN FSPS, RESPECTIVELY BUT THE RIDGES TENDED TO DRY UP FASTER THAN FLAT SURFACE IN THE DRY POST- MONSOON MONTH OF OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER. THE SOIL WATER DEPLETION FROM DECEMBER TO JUNE WAS 242 MM IN RTS AND 108MM FROM THE PROFILE OF FSPS. THE RIDGES WERE COOLER BY 1 TO 2 DEGREE CELSIUS DURING DAY TIME IN WINTER AND WARMER THAN FLAT SURFACE BY 1 TO 2 DEGREE CELSIUS IN FORENOON AND 5 TO 6 DEGREE CELSIUS IN THE AFTERNOON HOURS DURING THE SUMMER. THE HIGHER LOSS OF WATER FROM RTS AS COMPARED TO FSPS NEGATED THE BENEFITS OF ADDITIONAL STORAGE MADE DURING THE MONSOONS. AS A RESULT , NO BENEFIT OF RTS WAS OBSERVED DURING TWO YEAR GROWTH OF ACACIA NILOTICA (LINN) AND PARKINSONIA ACULEATA (LINN) . EUCALYPTUS TERETICORNIS ( SMITH) RATHER PERFORMED BETTER IN FSP SYSTEM.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableTHE PAPER DEALS WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOIL EROSION ND SEDIMENTATION PROBLEMS IN INDIA, GIVING MAGNITUDE AND AREA AFFECTED BY SHEET, GULLY AND HILLSIDE EROSION AND ALSO SEDIMENT DEPOSITION IN SOME RESERVOIRS. IT REVIEWS CONSERVATION MEASURES , MOSTLY ON THE BASIS OF RESEARCH CONDUCTED AT CSWCRTI , DEHRADUN AND ITS CENTRES, FOR ARABLE AS WELL AS NON - ARABLE LANDS . RECLAMATION OF RAVINES AND CONTROL OF LANDSLIDES IN HIMALAYAS ARE ALSO DISCUSSED.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableTHE BOOK DEALS WITH THE RELEVANT TECHNOLOGIES GENERATED AT SEVERAL RESEARCH CENTRES OF THE ICAR FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF DEGRADED LANDS. THEY ARE BEING CONSTANTLY IMPROVED UPON AS MORE KNOWLEDGE ON THE NATURE OF DEGRADATION PROCESSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IS BEING GAINED. THE PROBLEMS OF ARID AND SEMI- ARID REGIONS ARE DISCUSSED IN SECTIONS II AND III AND SALT- AFFECTED SOILS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT INCLUDING PROBLEMS OF WATERLOGGING HAVE BEEN PRESENTED IN SECTION V. THE PROBLEM OF WATER EROSION IS PERHAPS THE MOST SERIOUS LAND DEGRADATION PHENOMENON , IS DISCUSSED IN SECTION IV. APART FROM SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGIES THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ISSUES INVOLVED IN ADOPTING THESE TECHNOLOGIES ON A FIELD SCALE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN SEPARATE ARTICLES.Not Availabl

Ecological Significance of Residues Retention for Sustainability of Agriculture in the Semi-arid Tropics

In South Asia, land degradation is primarily a monsoon mediated phenomenon restricted to 2-3 rainy months. The overall strategy for land degradation neutrality should (i) favour actions that keep soils covered with residues and (ii) plant kharif (rainy season) crop before the onset of monsoons to provide soil cover. Retention of anchored residues provides surface cover, increases microbial activity, carbon sequestration, and availability of nutrients. Surface retained residues reduce root zone salinization, detoxify phytotoxic monomeric Al in acidic soils and enhance the potential for use of brackish ground water in crop production. Residues covers save irrigation water and overcome the ill effects of poor agronomic and water management practices. Early direct dry seeding in surface retained residues has the potential of making kharif season planting independent of the onset of monsoon rains in South Asia and helps reduce acreages of Kharif and Rabi fallow lands. For improving carbon content in Indian soils, perhaps the most important priority is to devise tillage and crop residue management approaches that promote in situ rain water storage and its use for growing more crops. The paper summarises how crop residues fuel and drive soil functions and related ecosystem services and plant growth.</jats:p

Indian Agriculture needs a Strategic Shift for Improving Fertilizer Response and Overcome Sluggish Foodgrain Production

In India, loss of fertility through soil erosion is primarily a summer monsoons mediated phenomenon. Reversing the land degradation processes contribute to water availability, soil fertility maintenance, adapting to climate change and overall food security. Whereas kharif (monsoon/rainy season crop) foodgrain production largely depends on summer monsoons, the rabi season (post-rainy season/winter crop) rainfall is too little to exert a direct influence. In spite of larger acreage under kharif foodgrain crops, total fertiliser consumption during kharif and rabi seasons is comparable. Negative rainfall anomalies (deficit) adversely affected total fertiliser consumption and their use efficiency. Despite significant differences in fertiliser application rates, the response to applied fertiliser nutrients is almost similar in the two seasons. This implies that nutrient use efficiency (NUE) has a ‘manageable’ and an ‘unmanageable’ component wherein 4R practices are difficult to implement under unfavourable kharif weather conditions. Partial factor productivity of fertilizer nutrients (PFPF) has continuously declined over decades mainly because of depletion of soil organic carbon, imbalanced use of nutrients and inability to maintain soil moisture supplies. These observations plus yield-gap analysis permitted us to conclude that past trends of declining NUE can only be reversed through a shift either in sustainable land management practices or enhancing the genetic yield potential/ biomass of crop cultivars or by combining both and making kharif crop planting independent of monsoons rains through direct dry seeding.</jats:p

Not Available

Not AvailableAN ATTEMPT HAS BEEN MADE TO PREPARE SOIL EROSION RATE MAP OF INDIA. FOR THIS, AVAILABLE MAPS OF SOIL , RAINFALL EROSIVITY , SLOPE, LANDUSE, FOREST , DEGRADED LANDS, SAND DUNES AND IRRIGATION HAVE BEEN UTILIZED . SOIL LOSS DATA FROM VARIOUS RESEARCH STATIONS , WATERSHEDS AND SEDIMENTATION OF RESERVOIRS WERE MADE USE OF . SOIL LOSSFOR NUMBER OF PLACES WERE ESTIMATED USING UNIVERSAL SOIL LOSS EQUATION. BASED ON THESE 21 OBSERVED AND 64 ESTIMATED SOIL LOSS DATA POINTS SPREAD OVER DIFFERENT LAND RESOURCE REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY AND SUPERIMPOSING EIGHT- ABOVE MENTIONED MAPS, ISO- EROSION RATE LINES ON MAP OF INDIA WERE DRAWN. THIS MAP WILL PROVE HANDY TOOL FOR PLANNERS, WATERSHED MANAGES AND POLICY MAKERS TO DEVELOP APPROPRIATE LANDUSE FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINED PRODUCTIVITY.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableAN ATTEMPT HAS BEEN MADE TO PREPARE SOIL EROSION RATE MAP OF INDIA. FOR THIS , AVAILABLE MAPS OF SOIL, RAINFALL EROSIVITY , SLOPE, LANDUSE , FOREST, DEGRADED AND, SAND DUNES AND IRRIGATION HAVE BEEN UTILIZED . SOIL LOSS DATA FROM VARIOUS RESEARCH STATIONS, WATERSHEDS AND SEDIMENTATION OF RESERVOIRS WERE MADE USE OF. SOIL LOSS FOR NUMBER OF PLACES WERE ESTIMATED USING UNIVERSAL SOIL LOSS EQUATION. BASED ON THESE 21 OBSERVED AND 64 ESTIMATED SOIL LOSS DATA POINTS SPREAD OVER DIFFERENT LAND RESOURCES REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY AND SUPERIMPOSING EIGHT ABOVE- MENTIONED ,MAPS, IO- EROSION RATE LINES ON MAP OF INDIA WERE DRAWN. THIS MAP WILL PROVE HANDY TOOL FOR PLANNERS , WATERSHED MANAGERS AND POLICY MAKERS TO DEVELOP APPROPRIATE LANDUSE FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINED PRODUCTIVITY.Not Availabl

Resource Management Domains of Kharif and Rabi Season Fallows in Central Plateau Region of India: A Strategy for Accelerated Agricultural Development

Over last few decades, acreage of total fallow lands (Kharif and Rabi seasons) in India has remained almost unchanged around 25Mha. The acreage of Kharif (summer) and Rabi (winter) Fallows in Madhya Pradesh (MP) are 1.98Mha and 5.51Mha, respectively. In the semi-arid agroclimatic zones of the states, Fallow-Wheat/Gram/Indian-Mustard cropping systems are practiced. After harvest of Kharif rice, kodo-kutki, maize or sorghum, farmers generally practice post-rainy season Rabi fallows in the sub-humid regions, south of Narmada River. Kharif fallowing is largely the result of the inability of the farmers to make planting dates independent of monsoon forecasts, and make efficient use of rain water. It appears that factors responsible for Kharif and Rabi fallows are distinctly different and a general consequence of distinctly different soil moisture regimes prevailing in the two crop seasons. Kharif and Rabi fallows have two distinct resource management domains. Whereas, Kharif fallows can be tackled with “PMP-dry seeding” agronomy, production constraints of Rabi fallows can be substantively tackled by shifting from tilled to zero-till agriculture with residue management to make efficient use of the conserved rain water. Some irrigation support will prove useful to tackle mid-season droughts in both situations. Conservation agricultural practices can significantly improve and stabilize crop yields in black soils and other associated soils of in the semi-arid tropics region of the Central India.</jats:p