The relationship between central Indian terrestrial vegetation and monsoon rainfall distributions in different hydroclimatic extreme years using time-series satellite data

The study explored the dependence of the spatio-temporal pattern of rainfall and its variability on the spatial distribution of forests in the central Indian landscape, which covers ~1 million km2, includes five states, and supports a population of 329 million people. The monsoon rainfall is, thus, a crucial source of freshwater for these population. We analyzed the relationship between rainfall and satellite-derived vegetation vigor, vegetation fraction, and elevation across 22 experimental zones across central India (i.e., forested, non-forested, and agricultural regions; buffer zones within and outside forests). Around 87% of annual rainfall is received during the monsoon, with maximum rainfall (~1600 mm) in Odisha and minimum (~900 mm) in Maharashtra. The average rainfall was greater (~1500 mm) inside forests than in non-forested regions (~1000 mm). Moreover, 245 mm km−2 year−1 of rainfall was observed over forests during monsoon, but only 215 mm km−2 year−1 in non-forested areas. Overall, rainfall increases from the forest edge towards the forest core logarithmically at a rate of ~10 mm km−1 year−1, and it decreases exponentially when moving away from the forest edge at an average rate of −20 mm km−1 year−1 over 0-to-50 km range, and at a rate of −7.5 mm km−1 year−1 over the 50-to-100 km range. This rate of decrease was maximum in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and minimum in Chhattisgarh. The results confirmed the crucial role of forests in the distribution of monsoon rainfall, but in the elevated and Western Ghats regions, the orographic effect is dominant. These findings are of great concern to forest policymakers to conserve and protect the central Indian forests

In: Propagation of Horticultural Plants: Arid and Semi-arid Regions (Eds. R.S. Singh and R. Bhargava )

Not AvailableHot arid region represents a range of diversity in native shrubs, which occur on a wide range of habitats. Some of these grow in extreme desertic habitat and survive in harsh climatic conditions. The diverse material of indigenous multipurpose little known shrubs offers a good scope for introduction in the farming system. This will be particularly useful on those areas where some of the species like Phog (Calligonum polygonoides), Lana (Haloxylon salicornicum), Gangeran (Grewia tenax), Kheep (Leptadenia pyrotechnica) etc make the dominant cover even in times of drought. These species with food and fuelwood value also provide the nutritious feed to animals during forage scarcity and drought period. Their introduction in suitable habitat will also help in conservation of these shrubs. In the chapter, importance and propagation of some of less known shrubs of western Rajasthan have been discussed.Not Availabl

In: Climate Change and Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation (Eds. R.K. Bhatt, U. Burman, D.K. Painuli, D.V. Singh, Ramavtar Sharma and S.P.S. Tanwar)

Not AvailableRangelands are important component of hot desert landscapes. They improve soil fertility, combat soil erosion, protect water tables, enhance water infiltration in soil and store carbon in soils mitigating climate change effects. Compared to arable farming, rangeland based animal husbandry has positive impacts on the desert environment and provide various ecosystem services and goods. Grazing based animal husbandry is not an economic activity in the desert but also an important component of cultural heritage. Although rangelands in hot arid region largely found in degraded state due to combination of environmental and socio-economic factors, they still remain the major forage resource base significantly contributing to the animal husbandry sector. Hot arid rangeland shrubs due to their morpho-physiological characteristics have very important role in climate change scenario. If, somehow, with available technologies and sound management these rangelands are brought back to their potential production level, the gap between forage supply and demand can be at least leveled up in view of climate change scenario.Not Availabl

In: Arid Horticulture for Nutrition and Livelihood (Eds. T.A. More, R.S. Singh, R. Bhargava and B.D. Sharma)

Not AvailableVarious projections made to food requirement of human clearly indicates that the demands of animal products will increase in future, which call for augmenting the productivity of animal to meet the nutrition requirement of human population. The inadequate nutrition and deficit fodder has been reported as major constraint for sustainable animal production in the hot arid region. Therefore, augmenting the fodder availability is of prime concern. The present attempt is to highlight the important option s available to augment the fodder availability in arid region for the development of large-scale pastures and silvi-pasture systems.Not Availabl

In: Improving Productivity of Drylands by Sustainable Resource Utilization and Management (Eds. Devi Daval, D. Machiwal, S. Mangalassery and R.S. Tripathi.)

Not AvailableAmong the perennial vegetation, shrubs are important as they cover 70-80 % of desert landscape from Aravalli to the international border of Indian part of Thar Desert. Shrubs have a vital role in sustenance of livelihood and ecological resilience of hot arid region. Despite their economic and ecological significances, indigenous shrubs did not get desired attention in research and development programme. Recently, focus has been shifted towards shrubs for emerging need of agricultural diversification, demand for fodder, medicinal and other economic products, along with their role in environment restoration. This chapter is an attempt to give comprehensive account of diversity and utilization of shrubs along with options for their conservation.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableOptimum and sustainable utilization of indigenous arid shrubs play an important role as source of variety of economic products besides their ecological role. Among arid shrubs, Haloxylon salicornicum (Moq.) Bunge ex Boiss. locally called as Lana is an important shrub of western Rajasthan. It remains green during the lean period and resists grazing by animals. Its fruiting tops are traditionally harvested at fruiting stage and utilized as animal feed by mixing with other local feeds. Results of the feeding trial conducted have shown that conventional concentrate can be replaced by 25 and 50% with Lana seeds with perianth in the ration of cattle and goats. The present study aimed at drawing attention on the potential of this arid shrub focusing mainly on its potential as browse shrub and to supply nutritious feed to livestock in hot arid region.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA field experiment was conducted during rainy klrarlfl season of 2004 and 2005 to study the effect of chemical and biofertilizer on growth, yield and nutrient uptake of rainfed clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub). Significant improvement in growth, yield and nutrient uptake was recorded with sole and integrated application of nutrients through chemical fertilizers and bio fertilizers. Application of chemical fertilizers registered significant improvement in seed yield over control and magnitude of increase with application of 50,75 and 100 % of recommended dose of fertilizer (20 kg N, 40 kg P,O, ha) was 21.1,45.6 and 50.9 % over the control respectively. Association between Rhizobium and phosphate solublising bacteria was synergistic and inoculation of both fertilizers significantly improved the seed yield. Bnoculation of Rhizobiunr, phosphate solublising bacteria and Rhizobium + phosphate solublising bacteria recorded 21 .O, 14.0 and 24.6 % higher seed yield than the control respectively. Integration of biofertilizer with chemical fertilizer @ 50 % recommended dose of fertilizer brought significant improvement in yield and nutrient uptake over the respective sole application of chemical and biofertilizer and was comparable with application of 100 % recommended dose of fertilizer.Not Availabl

Managing grazing lands for drought mitigation. In: Drought Mitigation and Management (Eds. Suresh Kumar, S.P. S. Tanwar )

Not AvailableGrazing lands are vital for sustainability of livestock based economy of arid region. State of these grazing lands varies due to topographic and climatic situations, so location specific impact assessment is essential. The productivity of these existing grazing lands can be increased by adopting available technologies and replacing low yielding annual grasses with high yielding nutritive adapted perennial grasses. In degraded grazing lands renovation or rehabilitation programme, highly drought tolerant perennial grasses, shrubs, and some succulents should be used which characterize the desert ecosystem. In this paper, an attempt has been made to suggest the ways to manage the grazing lands and augment the fodder availability for drought mitigation in the hot arid region.Not Availabl

In. Climate Change and Agroforestry-Adaptation, Mitigation and Livelihood Security (Eds. C.B. Pandey, Mahesh Kumar Gaur and R.K. Goyal)

Not AvailableThe woody perennials viz., shrubs and trees is under severe stress due to change in land use pattern and other anthropogenic factors. The region has several adapted multipurpose woody shrubs and trees which are important source of genes targeting climate change. Therefore, there is need to collect, identify the elite genotypes and integrate these in various production systems. It will not conserve the genetic resources but will supply the products of economic importance. The present paper highlights on the integration of woody perennials (shrubs/trees) in various production systems through agroforestry approach for their conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources in hot arid environment.Not Availabl

In: Approaches Towards Fodder Security in India. ( Eds. P.K. Ghosh, S.K. Mahanta, J.B. Singh, D. Vijay, R.V. Kumar, V.K. Yadav and Sunil Kumar)

Not AvailableThe range grasses and legumes are important components of rangeland ecosystem. In Indian rangelands, these species show enormous diversity and have immense economic, ecological and socio-religious significance. Range grasses provide nutritious fodder for livestock, which is the mainstay of traditional farming system and also provide raw material for industry such as paper, pulp, aromatic oil etc. Among range legumes, the species of genera Alysicarpus, Atylosia, Desmodium, Pueraria, Rhynchosia, Stylosanthes, Teramnus etc have huge potential. Many of the range grasses and legumes are supposed the lie support species as food during drought and famines. The present review is an attempt to give an overview of diversity, economic, ecological and socio-religious significances of grass and legume species of Indian rangelands along with future research needs for sustainable utilization of these species.Not Availabl