Trend Analysis of Streamflow and Rainfall in the Kosi River Basin of Mid-Himalaya of Kumaon Region, Uttarakhand

Due to climate change phenomenon and substantial decrease in water resources, analyzing the streamflow trend is of significant importance. In the present study, investigation was carried out to find rainfall and streamflow trends in the Kosi river watershed at different timescales from 1986 to 2016. Kosi river is one of the principal rivers in the Kumaon region. The different methods employed for trend detection of streamflow and rainfall were the Mann–Kendall (MK) test and the Sen’s slope (SS) estimator. Results showed a statistically significant decreasing trend in pre-monsoonal and annual rainfall with a Sen’s slope of -2.27 and -1.49 mm/year, respectively. The decreasing trends in pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter streamflow were found during 1986–2016, which were not statistically significant. The results of the study help in understanding the variation and availability of rainfall and streamflow in different seasons of the year and motivate to adopt effective water management and agricultural practices for rainfed hills

Climatic Variation and Its Impacts on Yield and Water Requirement of Crops in Indian Central Himalaya

Climate is most important factor affecting agriculture, and issues related to climate and its implications have attracted attention of policy makers globally. The farm sector, particularly marginal ecosystems in mountains are vulnerable because of unpredictable variation and severe sink limitations. Efforts to impart resilience to farm and its allied sector are an urgent need. The climatic parameters play very important role to determine type of crops, cattle rearing and the life style adopted by the people. Moreover, weather has a significant impact on crop growth and development. Weather plays a vital role and affects the production and productivity of the crops. According to an estimate, weather contributes 67% variation in productivity and rest of the factors (soil, nutrient and management practices etc.) accounts for 33%. Therefore, there is a need of in-depth analysis of each meteorological parameters and identification of their trend over the years in order to identify and adapt suitable agriculture practices, better adaptable crops, varieties and their duration, time of field preparation, sowing time and irrigation as per the climatic conditions of the region. This will lead farming community to plan strategies of agriculture operation to obtain optimum yield. The climatic data from the meteorological observatory of ICAR-VPKAS, Hawalbagh located at mid hill condition (1250 m amsl) were analyzed for different periods (annual, seasonal, monthly, weekly). It was revealed that rainfall is decreasing over the years but significant (P < 0.05) decrease was recorded at mid hills. The maximum temperature is increasing significantly (P < 0.05) during post-monsoon and winter season however decreasing in monsoon season whereas minimum temperature is decreasing round the year. These changes in rainfall and temperatures are affecting production and productivity of the crops, as hills are largely rainfed. In terms of crop water demand, there is no need to apply irrigation during the rainy season except the transplanted rice. However, during the winter season as there is more than 60% of water deficit to irrigate the crops. The proper understanding of climate is necessary to bring sustainability in hill agriculture by adjusting crop sowing window and other operations as per suitability of the climate

Not Available

Not AvailableThe paper analyzed the spatial-temporal variability of rainfall and detection of potential trend change point over Kosi River basin, Kumaon Lesser Himalaya, India, using long-term gridded data and historical metrological records in hilly river basin of Uttarakhand. The Mann-Kendall (MK) test was used to determine the spatio-temporal trend using IMD (0.25° × 0.25°) gridded rainfall data during 1901–2015. The Theil-Sen slope was used to determine the magnitude of change in rainfall during the study period. Additionally, the sequential Mann-Kendal (SQ-MK) test and Pettitt’s test has been used to fnd the abrupt change point in historical time series (1980–2019). Results of the study show that northeastern and southwestern parts of the Kosi River basin exhibit a statistically signifcant decreasing trend in both June and July months at 5% signifcance level. Northeastern and southwestern parts of the basin exhibit a statistically signifcant decreasing trend for monthly and annual rainfall. The range of Sen’s slope values varies from −0.6 to −6.6 mm/year. Based on the analysis of SQ-MK and Pettitt’s test, the change points for Almora, Mukteshwar, and Hawalbagh were 1991, 2004, and 1998 respectively. Therefore, this paper attempts to provide actionable knowledge for irrigation water planning, water management, and soil and water conservation for Uttarakhand.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableNot AvailaRainfall is an important parameter for water resources application particularly in rainfed agricultural system. Rainfall in Himalaya varies from palace to place due to complex topography and it is hard to predict based on empirical formula. The objective of the present study is to develop seasonal auto regressive integrative moving average (SARIMA) model for Almora, Hawlbagh and Mukteshwar station located in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand and to determine the accuracy of the developed model in the same region. The present research utilized univariate time series rainfall model to forecast rainfall in Kumon region. We have selected the best SARIMAmodel fitted to our data which exhibited the least akaike information criterion (AIC) and bayesian information criterion (BIC) values. Finally, we identified the best model separately for each location after following three Box-Jenkings methodologies (model identification, elimination of parameters and diagnostic checking). The selected model is evaluated for residual normality test and observed data. The performance statistics of the developed SARIMAmodels for monthly scale were found for Almora (RMSE = 26.55 mm, MAE 2 2 = 22.77 mm, R = 0.86), Hawalbagh (RMSE = 33.66 mm, MAE = 25.63 mm, R = 0.82) 2 and Mukteshwar (RMSE = 35.62 mm, MAE = 28.45 mm, R = 0.81). The performance parameter of the developed models showed that the forecast result mimics well with the observed rainfall data and also captures the extreme events well.bleNot Availabl

Identification of Best Potential Evapotranspiration model for Estimating Reference Evapotranspiration for sub temperate climate: Almora, Uttarakhand

FAO-56-Penman-Monteith is regarded as a standard method worldwide for calculation of ET. However due to requirement of detailed meteorological data, its application is often constrained under data scarce region. Under such situation, a suitable alternative method with equivalent efficacy to that FAO56PM needs to be identified. The present study is undertaken to evaluate 13 different ETo model from temperate, radiation and combined method using monthly long-term (1985-2010) meteorological data from VPKAS, Experimental farm located in mid Himalaya region of Uttarakhand state of India with respect to standard (FAO56PM) method. The result revealed that combination method, Penmen-Monteith was found most suitable (r=1, RMSE= 0.04 mm/ month ) followed by 1972 Kimberly Penman (r=0.99, RMSE= 0.13 mm/month) . Among radiation method Turc ETo model (r=0.71, RMSE= 0.12 mm/month) was found most appropriate followed by Hargreaves et al., (1985) (r=0.4, RMSE= 0.99 mm/month) in temperature based method. In general, combination method for estimation of PET followed by radiation-based and temperature-based method

Not Available

Agriculture in hill and mountain ecosystem is predominantly rainfed with common occurrence of moisture stress. Due to erratic rainfall and adverse topology in the Indian Himalaya Region (IHR), agricultural drought has become a prime concern. It is a natural disaster which evolves in time and their impacts generally last a long period of time. The present study attempts to characterize annual, seasonal and monthly temporal trend and rainfall pattern of 56 years long-term (1964-2019) and post-urbanization or recent (1980-2019) period using meteorological data of ICARVPKAS, Experimental Farm Hawalbagh, Almoraand Headquarter office, Almora observatory located in mid-Himalayan region of Uttarakhand state of India. Man-Kendall (α≤ 0.05; α≤ 0.10) test, Sen.’s slope and rainfall anomaly index (RAI) were employed for detecting trend, changes in magnitude of rainfall and identifying rainfall deficit year, respectively. The statistically significant (α≤ 0.05) decreasing trend was found during post-urbanization (1980-2019) with Sen.'s slope for pre-monsoon season (-2.38 mm/year) and annual rainfall (-7.26 mm/year) for Hawalbagh, while cold winter season shows statistically significant deceasing trend with Sen.'s slope (-2.00 mm/year) at Headquarter office, Almora. The decreasing trend in monsoon season (statistically significant at α≤ 0.10) was found during (1964-2019). However, both the station showed decreasing rainfall trend for pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, cold winter season and annual season. Results revealed that RAI analysis frequency of drought year was increasing in last 10 years.Agriculture in hill and mountain ecosystem is predominantly rainfed with common occurrence of moisture stress. Due to erratic rainfall and adverse topology in the Indian Himalaya Region (IHR), agricultural drought has become a prime concern. It is a natural disaster which evolves in time and their impacts generally last a long period of time. The present study attempts to characterize annual, seasonal and monthly temporal trend and rainfall pattern of 56 years long-term (1964-2019) and post-urbanization or recent (1980-2019) period using meteorological data of ICARVPKAS, Experimental Farm Hawalbagh, Almoraand Headquarter office, Almora observatory located in mid-Himalayan region of Uttarakhand state of India. Man-Kendall (α ≤ 0.05; α ≤ 0.10) test, Sen.’s slope and rainfall anomaly index (RAI) were employed for detecting trend, changes in magnitude of rainfall and identifying rainfall deficit year, respectively. The statistically significant (α ≤ 0.05) decreasing trend was found during post-urbanization (1980-2019) with Sen.'s slope for pre-monsoon season (-2.38 mm/year) and annual rainfall (-7.26 mm/year) for Hawalbagh, while cold winter season shows statistically significant deceasing trend with Sen.'s slope (-2.00 mm/year) at Headquarter office, Almora. The decreasing trend in monsoon season (statistically significant at α ≤ 0.10) was found during (1964-2019). However, both the station showed decreasing rainfall trend for pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, cold winter season and annual season. Results revealed that RAI analysis frequency of drought year was increasing in last 10 years. The results of study will help in understanding the variation and availability of rainfall in different seasons of the year and motivate to adopt effective water management and agricultural practices for rainfed hills. This study will also be useful for regional, scientific and policy makers for preparing appropriate strategies in order to mitigate adverse impact of climate change in mid-Himalayan region.Not Availabl

Increasing farmer’s income and water use efficiency as affected by long-term fertilization under a rainfed and supplementary irrigation in a soybean-wheat cropping system of Indian mid-Himalaya

Not AvailableWater and nutrient management are major corners in the improvement of productivity and sustainability of rainfed soybean-wheat cropping systems (SWCS). A nine-year-old (2006–2014–15) field experiment was started to explore the effects of recommended dose of farm yard manure (FYM) in SWCS, recommended dose of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers (RDF) along with FYM, FYM + 50% NPK, NPK, FYMsoybean + NPKwheat and without application of NPK and FYM (CK) under rainfed (I0) and supplementary irrigation (I1) situation in SWCS. Results from nine years continuous fertilization of NPK + FYM showed significantly highest grain yield of wheat (2.70 and 3.80 t ha−1 ) and soybean (2.50 and 2.74 t ha−1 ) under rainfed (I0) and supplementary irrigation (I1), respectively as compared to rest of treatments. Significant (p < 0.05) correlation (R2 = 0.50) was observed between seasonal rainfall and wheat grain yield. However, SWCS yield was also significantly (p < 0.05) higher with fertilization of NPK + FYM plots under both rainfed (I0) and supplementary irrigation (I1) situation. The mean water use efficiency (WUE) of wheat (9.70 and 9.60 kg ha−1 mm−1 ) was significantly higher as compared soybean (3.8 and 4.3 kg ha−1 mm−1 ) under rainfed (I0) and supplementary irrigation (I1), respectively. Meanwhile, in respective of treatments WUE of wheat (15 and 14 kg ha−1 mm−1 ) and soybean (5.7 and 6.2 kg ha−1 mm−1 ) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in NPK + FYM plots under rainfed (I0) and supplementary irrigation (I1), respectively. Results showed that grain yield, irrigation and fertilizer interaction was significant (p < 0.05) positive for wheat, whereas it was non-significant for soybean. The net returns were significantly higher with fertilization of NPK + FYM under rainfed (I0) and supplementary irrigation (I1) in SWCS. Economic efficiency (EE) and production efficiency (PE) was also significantly (p < 0.05) higher with NPK + FYM fertilization in SWCS. Thus, we conclude that in the long-term fertilization (NPK + FYM) in SWCS under rainfed and supplementary irrigation situation, respectively is sustainable option for higher economic as well as production efficiencyNot Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableA long-term field study was commenced in 1995-96 to assess the impact of continuous application of inorganic fertilizers and organic manure on sustainability, productivity and chemical indicators of soil quality in an irrigated soybean-wheat cropping system (SWCS). Six treatments comprised inorganic fertilizers (NPK) and manure (M) either alone or in combination. Soybean yield indicated declining trend −22.50, −56.0 and −25.0 kg ha−1 year−1 under unfertilized control, sole nitrogen and NPK treatments, respectively while addition of organic manure resulted in a positive yield trend. Plot receiving NPK had positive yield trend of 118 kg ha−1 year−1 in wheat crop. The highest positive yield trend was obtained with manure (M) and NPK treatment, values being 17.60 and 191 kg ha−1 year−1 in soybean and wheat, respectively. Significantly (p < 0.05) the highest grain yield was also observed under the MNPK treatment, soybean and wheat reporting 2.56 and 4.31 Mg ha−1, respectively which was ∼ 30 and 25% higher than NPK treatment, respectively. Significantly higher yield sustainability was observed in the plots receiving manure either alone (0.77 and 0.51) or in combination with N fertilizer (0.79 and 0.79) or with NPK, MNPK (0.89 and 0.92) compared to the treatment, which did not receive the manure in both soybean and wheat crops. Due to continuous cropping and fertilization over the years, available N increased from initial values in all the plots except CK (−3.89 and −3.59%) under 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depths. Negative trends for available P were observed in all treatments except MNPK over the years of continuous cropping. A significantly decreasing trend for the available K was observed under CK, N, NPK and M treatments, whereas a significant accumulation was estimated under MN and MNPK treated plots in both soil depths. Significantly higher accumulation of available N, P and K were observed under MNPK treatment compared to the rest of the treatments. The treatment MNPK had the highest soil DTPA-extractable Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu after 21-years of cropping and fertilization. The sustainable yield index (SYI) values indicated that soybean yield was more sustainable compared to the wheat. The SYI and grain yield of soybean had significantly higher correlation with available N, P, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu. Soil available N had significantly higher values of coefficient of regression (r2) for wheat (0.98; p = 0.001 and 0.97; p = 0.001) compared to soybean (0.74; p = 0.029 and 0.74; p = 0.027) under 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depths, respectively. The SYI was strongly positively correlated with chemical indicators of soil quality. Hence, SYI could potentially be used for assessment of agricultural productivity and soil sustainability elsewhere.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableSince reckonable understanding of yield response under long-term (16 year) conservation management practices is the key to improve the productivity and physico-chemical indicators of rice-wheat rotation, impact of long-term tillage and irrigation levels on productivity, yield trend, soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions, carbon pools and sequestration under rice-wheat rotation on sandy clay loam soil of the mid-Himalaya were quantified. A field experiment started from 2001 through 2016 to assess the effect of tillage alterations conventional tillage (CT) and zero tillage (ZT) and four irrigation levels I1: pre-sowing (PS), I2: PS + crown root initiation (CRI), I3: PS + CRI + panicle initiation (PI)/flowering (FL), and I4: PS + CRI + PI/FL + grain filling (GF), applied at the critical growth stages to rice-wheat rotation. Results confirmed that irrigation management had a significant (p = 0.001) positive impact on grain yield of rice, wheat and system yield after 16 year continuous cropping. We also recoded that, plot with four irrigation (I4) had ∼ 28, 40 and 35 % higher grain yield of rice, wheat as compared to single irrigation or I1 (2.04, 2.99 and 5.05 Mg ha−1), respectively. Rice yield declined significantly (r = 0.68; p = 0.003) by 70 kg ha−1 year−1 under ZT plots than CT plots (52 kg ha−1 year−1). Decreasing trend of rice yield ranged from 42 kg ha−1 year-1 in four irrigations (I4) to 75 kg ha−1 year−1 single irrigation (I1). Whereas, wheat yield increased (58 kg ha−1 year−1) non-significantly over the years under ZT plots whereas under CT plots (-13.6 kg ha−1 year−1) it had declining trend with time. Unlike rice yield, impact of irrigation on wheat yield had positive trends or increasing trends with time. Plots under long-term ZT along with irrigation practice significantly increased total porosity and decreased pH and bulk density (BD) mainly in surface layer. Different pools of SOC were also significantly increased under ZT as compared to CT only in surface layer (0−15 cm). We conclude that, ZT system increased yield of wheat and diminished rice yield after 16 years of experimentation. But apart from yield, ZT also improved physico-chemical indicators of soil and enhanced carbon sequestration. The WUE of rice and wheat (4.20 and 11.0 kg ha−1 mm−1) had slightly higher under ZT as compared to CT. It is suggested that ZT is more desirable for efficient water utilization in such conditions. Frequent irrigation (I4) was more desirable for maintaining optimum moisture condition for sustainable crop production.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableFor identification and adoption of improved and environmental friendly agricultural practices with minimum emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), observations were recorded for 3 years (2015–17) in a 22-yearold soybean-wheat based long-term fertilizer experiment that was started in 1995–96. The study involved seven treatments: control (CK), organic manure (M), inorganic fertilizers (NPK), integrated (MNPK), only nitrogen (N), mineral fertilizers in both season (NPK+NPK) and nitrogen with organic manure (MN). MNPK significantly enhanced the system productivity (9.72 Mg ha−1) with higher net return (3128 US$ha−1) and benefitcost ratio (1.64). Due to better energy output to inputs relation, total energy productivity and energy use efficiency were reported higher in MNPK (0.38 kg MJ−1 and 4.76, respectively) followed by MN (0.34 kg MJ−1 and 4.26, respectively) and M (0.32 kg MJ−1 and 4.16, respectively). In contrast to C efficiency, C sustainability index and yield scaled carbon footprint (CFy), the spatial CO2-e emission (CFs) was found highest under MNPK (~5035 kg CO2-e ha−1) followed by MN and NPK+NPK and lowest was recorded under control. In sum, long-term organic and inorganic fertilization simultaneously in soybean-wheat system may be a preferred strategy for improving soil productivity, profitability, energy use and environmental sustainability of Indian-mid-Himalayas.Not Availabl