Performance evaluation and optimization studies of border irrigation system for wheat in the Indian Punjab

Surface irrigation methods are the most widely practiced worldwide for irrigation of row crops. The major problem with these methods is low irrigation efficiency, mainly due to poor design. In the Punjab, border irrigation is used to irrigate wheat crops grown over 90% of the cultivated area. The evaluation of existing border systems using a surface irrigation model showed that the irrigation conditions, comprising of inflow rate, border dimensions, and cut-off time, were diverse in tubewell and canal irrigated areas. The study also examined the feasibility of optimizing border dimensions taking into consideration the existing irrigation conditions for achieving more than 60% application efficiency as compared to the 30–40% achieved under present field conditions. In the case of a border length of 60 m, it was recommended to increase border width in the range of 10–45 m and 20–60 m for different flow rates of 10, 20 and 30 L/s in light and medium soils, respectively. For higher flow rates, a border length ranging from 120–150 m was found to be optimum. For a border length of 150 m, it was recommended to keep a border width ranging from 4–38 m and 8–65 m in light soils and medium soils, respectively, for flow rates of 10, 20, 30 and 60 L/s. Optimizing border dimensions is a practical way to achieve efficient and judicious use of water resources

Micro Level Assessment of Water Resources in Bist Doab Tract of Indian Punjab

Water is a vital input in agriculture and has made significant contribution in providing stability to food grain production and self-sufficiency. The resource can be optimally used and sustained only when quantity of water is assessed at micro level. The present study was aimed to estimate the gap in demand and supply of water resources at the Block level during Kharif and Rabi season in Bist Doab tract. The average total annual water demand was found to exceed the average annual available water by 255,996 ha.m; 145,945 ha.m (57%) in Kharif and 110,052 ha.m (43%) in Rabi season. The highest water deficit of 543 mm in Mukerian Block and of 231 mm in Balachur Block were observed in Kharif and Rabi season, respectively. The analysis revealed that the rice-wheat cropping system is the major factor responsible for higher water demand leading to water deficit in the Bist Doab tract

Delineation of critical regions for mitigation of carbon emissions due to groundwater pumping in central Punjab

The expansion of groundwater use has not only resulted in a speedy decline in the groundwater table but also added to the problem of carbon emissions (C-emissions) in Punjab. Estimates of C-emissions from groundwater pumping for irrigation in central Punjab indicated that during the last 15 years (1998–2013), the groundwater levels had fallen by 8.89 m; pump set density (per 1000 ha) increased by 45%; groundwater use increased by 140 Mm3; energy requirements increased by 4845.1 MkWh (90%), all this resulted into an increase in C-emissions by 984.1 kiloton (30%). The relationship between carbon emissions and groundwater depth showed that for each meter fall of groundwater level in central Punjab, C emissions will increase by 2.67 g/m³. The present level of groundwater exploitation in Bhawanigarh, Dharmkot, Dhuri, Malerkotla I, Malerkotla II, Nabha, Nakodar, Sangrur, Samana, Sherpur and Sunam is considered as threat to the environment and should be targeted to reduce C-emissions

Design of Border Irrigation System Using SURDEV for Medium Soils

Border irrigation method is used to irrigate most of the field crops. Accurate design and high quality optimization of the border irrigation system is necessary for efficient and judicious use of water resources. SURDEV was used for the design and evaluation of border irrigation system for medium soils for irrigation depth 75 mm, stream size of 10, 15,20,30,45 and 60 I1sec and border length of60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 m. The outputs of SURDEV provided optimum field dimensions for irrigating the small-drilled grain crops in medium textured soil

Evaluation of statistical corrective methods to minimize bias at different time scales in a regional climate model driven data

The regional climate models provide sufficient information of the climate data, which can be used for simulating the impact of expected climate change on crop growth and hydrological processes. But future climate data derived from such models often suffers from bias and is not ready to use per se in crop growth/hydrological models, wherein reasonable and consistent meteorological daily input data is a crucial factor. The present study concerns the assessment and minimization of the bias in the PRECIS modeled data of maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall for Ludhiana station, representing central Punjab of India. The correction functions for three corrective methods i.e. difference, modified difference and statistical bias correction at daily, monthly and annual time scales were developed and validated to minimize the bias. Amongst these, correction functions derived using modified difference method at daily time scale for rainfall and at monthly time scale for Tmax and Tmin were found to be the superseding

Comparing bias correction methods in downscaling meteorological variables for climate change impact study in Ludhiana, Punjab

Although regional climate models (RCMs) provide more reliable results for a regional impact study of climate change,however a considerable bias still exists that needs to be corrected before they are used for climate change research. In this study two correction functions using two methods viz. modified difference approach and linear scaling method were applied for local bias correction of Tmax. Tmin and rainfall data at monthly scales and validated to minimize the bias between the modelled (HAD GEM2-ES-GCM) and observed climate data at Ludhiana, Punjab.Correction functions derived using linear scaling method at monthly time scale for Tmax, Tmin and rainfall were found to be better than modified difference approach for bias correction of the weather data to bring it to close to observed data.

Climate Predictions for Ludhiana District of Indian Punjab under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5

Climate change poses significant threats to global food security and water resources. In a present study, a Global Climate Model HAD GEM2-ES under RCPs 4.5 and 8.5 was used for climate prediction study. The study spanned 46 years of baseline (1970-2015) as well as two future periods’ mid-century (MC) (2020-2050) and end century EC (2060-2090). The results showed that the temperature would increase by 1.56°C and rainfall would decrease by 98 mm in MC (2020-2050); and 3.11°C and 90 mm in EC (2060-2090), respectively under RCP 4.5. In RCP 8.5 the increase in temperature and rainfall was 2.75°C and 153 mm, respectively in MC and the corresponding values in EC was 5.46°C and 251 mm, respectively