Not Available

Not AvailableThe coastal zone of India which plays a vital role in contributing to the national economy and supports the livelihoods of several million people is highly fragile and vulnerable to degradation and the impacts of climate change. Soil salinity and waterlogging are the major land degradation problems in the region. Salinity build-up in the coastal soils is mainly due to salinity ingress of ground water aquifers owing to presence of high saline ground water table, excessive withdrawal of ground water, sea water ingress, and poor land and water management. Coastal regions having flat topography with impeded drainage face prolonged waterlogging during kharif season. Enhancing agricultural productivity for ensuring food and livelihood security of the coastal people is the biggest challenge. There are ample opportunities for improving agricultural productivity in the region through improved land and water management practices including careful choice of crops adapted to the region. Such land shaping techniques involving farm ponds, deep furrow and high ridge, shallow furrow and medium ridge, broad bed and furrow, three- tier land configuration, paired bed technique, paddy-cum-fish cultivation and brackish water aquaculture pond have the potential to tackle the problem of land degradation and declining productivity to a great extent.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableAn experiment was conducted at ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill (NEH) Region, India during 2007-09 on composting of paddy straw and its effect on rice (Oryza sativa L.)-groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cropping system. The composting experiment consisted of eight treatments (i) Eudrilus eugeniae, (ii) E. eugeniae + 2.5% lime, (iii) E. eugeniae + 5.0% lime, (iv) E. eugeniae + 7.5% lime, (v) Trichoderma viridae, (vi) T. viridae + 2.5% lime, (vii) T. viridae + 5.0% lime, (viii) T. viridae + 7.5% lime. The composting was faster (67 days) and multiplication of earthworm was highest (22 times) with earthworm + 5.0% lime. There was a positive effect of lime application on the pH of the compost and it increased from 6.24 to 7.09 due to application of 5.0% lime to the composting substrate. The field experiment consisted of 11 treatments, viz. eight composts produced from composting experiment @ 6 tonnes/ha, farmyard manure (FYM) @ 6 tonnes/ha, recommended dose of fertilizer (80-26.2-33.3 kg N-P-K/ha) and control. Soil moisture in 0-15 cm layer increased by 3.06%, pH changed from acidic to neutral and soil organic carbon increased by 0.39% due to application vermicompost. Addition of vermicompost prepared with 5% lime increased the soil microbial biomass carbon by 147% over control, while 51% increase was recorded with application of T. viridae compost with 2.5% lime. The grain and pod yields of upland rice and groundnut increased by 120% and 107% respectively over control due to application of vermicompost prepared with 5.0% lime.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableA study was carried out to develop useful. quantitative relationships between spectral indices (lR/R and NDVI) and leaf area index (LAl) in chickpea crop under irrigated and unirrigated conditions under field conditions. Six varieties differing in their growth habits and plant types were grown on sandy clay loam soils of Indian Agricultural Research Institute research farm during two rabi seasons of 2000-01 and 2001-02 under irrigated and unirrigated conditions following the recommended agronomic practices. The coefficients of determination (r2) values were obtained for the relations between LAI and spectral indices (lR/R and NDVI). Various types of regressions were tried and finally it was inferred that LAI can be best estimated by both lR/R and NDVI derived from the spectral reflectance data using linear or polynomial equations.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableField experiment were conducted to study the phenology and thermal requirement in different chickpea varieties under irrigated and unirrigated conditions. The crop phenology was expressed in terms of emergence, 1st flower initiation, 50% flowering, 1st pod initiation, 50% podding and physiological maturity. The corresponding requirement of days to attain the various phenological stages and growing degree days (GDD) were workout. Under irrigated conditions, the varieties BG362 and ICC-4958 took relatively less time to mature (about 142 days) while Amethyst and Tyson took slightly longer time, maturing in about 146 days. Under unirrigated conditions, the phenological events were attained earlier in all the varieties as compared to irrigated conditions. The unirrigated crop matured 7-10 days earlier and accumulated less GDD than the irrigated crop. The heat use efficiency (HUE) was also found to be of a similar trend.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableSorptivity was determined from soils of three different landforms, namely, non-cultivated deltaic (NCD), mud flat (MUD) and depressed low land (DL) under Gosaba Block of coastal West Bengal. The area covers approximately 4 km2 and soil samples were collected during the dry season (Feb. - March) of 2018. A horizontal infiltration study was carried out in the laboratory in plexiglass columns packed with soil for determining the infiltration and sorptivity parameters. Physicochemical parameters like pH2, EC2, saturated moisture content, texture, organic C were determined. The humic components of organic matter, namely, humic acid and fulvic acid, were also separated out to study their effect, if any, on soil sorptivity. Steady state cumulative infiltration was the highest (50-55 mm) in NCD soil and lowest (18-20 mm) in DL soil. The highest sorptivity of 3.1-3.5 mm min-½ was found in NCD soil and lowest in DL soil (1.0-1.1 mm min-1/2). Organic C content of all soils were medium to high (0.50-1.20%) and EC2 values were also low (< 4 dS m-1) in most of the soils except DL soil which had an EC2 value of 4-5.8 dS m-1. Saturated moisture content was highest in DL soil. The NCD soils contained higher fraction of fulvic acid (0.10-0.12%) which enhanced infiltration, whereas DL soils contained greater fraction of insoluble humic acid (0.27-0.31%) and exhibited less cumulative infiltration. MUD soils showed intermediate values. The relationships between sorptivity and clay, pH, EC, porosity and humic acid were significant (r = -0.90, -0.86, -0.86, -0.87 and -0.90, respectively), exponential and negative. Percentage fulvic acid was positively correlated (r = +0.94 * * ) with sorptivity.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableThe farming system of north eastern hills is complex due to practice of shifting cultivation prevalent in the region. Alternative farming systems to native shifting cultivation system were evaluated in long term evaluation to check viability, vulnerability and profitability of these farming systems. Among the eight alternative farming systems three i.e. agro-pastoral (FSW4), agri-horti-silvipastoral (FS-W5), horti-silvi-pastoral (FS-W6) were evaluated during 1999-2004 for five consecutive years. Input supplied and output obtained or recycled were converted into energy equivalents and analyzed for profitability. Agri-horti-silvi-pastoral system was found to be highly remunerative with regards to output: input energy ratio.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableAn experiment was conducted at Meghalaya, during 2006–08 to study the effect of rice straw mulching on growth, yield attributes and yield of different rapeseed (Brassica campestris L.) varieties, namely ‘M 27’, ‘TS 38’ and ‘Sikkim Sarson’. The plant height of rapeseed increased by 7.2% at harvest due to rice straw mulching @ 5.0 tonnes/ha over the non-mulching and it was highest (96.88 cm) in ‘TS 38’. Lower values (–2.9°C) of canopy air temperature difference were recorded in the mulch treatment than under control (–2.3°C). Mulching resulted in storage of 2.0% more soil moisture in the root zone of the crop over the unmulched control, indicating better microclimate for crop growth and development. Leaf area index was higher in ‘TS 38’ and in mulching treatment. Number of siliquae/plant (24.6%), seeds/siliqua (17.6%) and seed yield (35.4%) increased due to mulching over the non-mulching. The varieties differed significantly with respect to 100-seed weight and it was highest (0.37 g) in ‘TS 38’. Highest seed yield was obtained in ‘TS 38’ (1.51 tonnes/ha), followed by ‘M 27’ (1.46 tonnes/ha) and significantly superior over the ‘Sikkim Sarson’ (0.97 tonnes/ha).Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableSolute transport involving passage of aqueous electrolytes' namely KCl, K2SO4 and MgCl2 in vertical columns of soils from four locations, namely Baruipur, Gayeshpur, Kalimpong and Matimahal at two different compaction levels has been studied. The experimental data were analysed to obtain the hydraulic conductivity, solute accumulation and breakthrough curves for the aqueous electrolytes in the given soils. The hydraulic conductivity of the aqueous electrolytes through the soils decreased with the increase in compaction. Baruipur soil having high clay and organic matter contents gave distinctly lower values of hydraulic conductivity for K2SO4 than those for KCl. The values of solute accumulation parameter ‘r' for Baruipur and Gayeshpur soils were greater than those for other soils for each solute over the entire permeation period. This may be due to the presence of smectitic and iliitic clay minerals having high specific surface area. The value of 'r' in all the soils was greater for the passage of aqueous potassium salts as compared to aqueous MgCl2. This may have arisen from the presence in these soils of considerable amounts of illitic minerals having a high degree of specificity for retaining K+ ions. The sigmoid shape of the breakthrough curves (BTCs) for the electrolytes indicated hydrodynamic dispersion. The shifting of the BTCs to the left of the inflexion point suggested the preferential flow of solute in the large pores. The shift was minimum for the Matimahal soil having lowest clay and organic matter contents. On the other hand, the shifting was greater for Kaiimpong soil than for Baruipur soil despite the fact that the former had lower clay and organic matter contents, possibly due to greater size of aggregates in the former. The present study also revealed that the increase in compaction level resulted in a greater degree of the aforesaid shifting of the inflexion point of the breakthrough curves.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableNot AvailableNot Availabl