Agricultural productivity per unit volume of water can only be improved by widely transferring developed water management technologies to farmers' fields. Under this programme, various water management technologies have been demonstrated in farmers' fields by various research organizations in different parts of the country.
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Traditional methods of land levelling
These leveling practices are crude and do not achieve a high level of smoothness of soil surface. These methods of land leveling are also not designed to suit the stream size, soil type, field size and slope and moreover they are tedious, time consuming, uneconomical and inaccurate.
Precision land levelling
The importance of land leveling is taking place and farmers in many parts of the country are now realizing the benefits of this technology and are therefore paying serious attention to leveling their fields properly. Precise soil leveling helps to control the emergence of salt-affected patches, increase in crop intensity and crop productivity, increase in arable land area up to 3-5 %, improves crop establishment, reduces weed intensity and leads to saving of irrigation water (Fig. 1.2).
Considerations in laser levelling
This practice makes use of high horsepower tractors and earth movers equipped with global positioning system (GPS) and/or laser guided instrumentation so that the soil can be moved either by cutting or filling to create the desired slope/level.
Components of Laser Land Levelling System
The solenoid control valve controls the flow of oil to the hydraulic ram which raises and lowers the bucket. The rate at which the bucket will rise and fall depends on the amount of oil supplied to the delivery line.
Operational aspects of laser land leveller
When connected as a single acting ram, only one oil line is connected to the ram. The desired rate at which the bucket is raised and lowered will depend on the working speed.
Benefits of precision laser land levelling
This hydraulic valve raises and lowers the blade of a grader several times per second to keep it following the infrared beam (Fig. 1.8). Laser transmitters create a reference plane over the work area by rotating the laser beam 360 degrees.
Limitations of laser levelling
Precautions in laser levelling
Biogas slurry appears to be a potential source to increase soil organic content and increase its water and nutrient holding capacity. This improves the physical properties of the soil, making it easier for roots to develop and penetrate.
Types of Biogas Plants
When fresh cow manure dries, approximately 30 to 50 percent of the nitrogen escapes within 10 days. While the release of nitrogen from digested manure within the same period only amounts to 10 to 15 per cent.
Design of Biogas Plant
Digester: The digester of fixed dome installations usually consists of cement and ferrocement masonry structures. Fixed dome plants produce just as much gas as floating drum plants if they are gas tight.
Parts of Biogas Plants
The inlet pipe ends higher in the digester than the outlet pipe to promote more uniform flow of the substrate. In a floating drum plant, the end of the discharge pipe determines the digester's (constant) slurry level. In a fixed dome plant, the gas that accumulates in the upper part of the dome displaces an equivalent volume of digested slurry.
Alternatively, the lowest point of the gas holder can be reinforced with a steel ring or the entire gas holder can be reinforced with chicken wire.
Substrate and Management
On arrival it is mixed by hand with approximately an equal amount of water before being fed into the fermenter. If so, it usually runs down the manure chute and into a bucket that sits in a recess at the end of the chute. The bucket is emptied into the mixing pit – replacing some of the mixing water – in preparation for filling the digester.
A cemented stable floor, attached directly to the mixing pit, is the best solution to optimally utilize manure and urine and to save time loading the digester.
Operation and Use of Biogas plant
The quantities of substrate fed into the digester can be recorded to monitor the performance of the biogas plant. This can lead to overpressure (the hydraulic pressure increases with the manure level in the expansion chamber) and to blockage of the gas outlet if too much manure flows back into the digester. Sludge storage is normally affected by one of three techniques.
On the other hand, drying results in an almost total loss of inorganic nitrogen (up to 90%) and large losses of total nitrogen content (about 50%).
Factors affecting efficiency of Biogas Plant
On the other hand, liquid storage requires a large, watertight storage facility that requires a high initial capital investment (Figure 2.11). Drying: digested sludge can only be dried if the rate of evaporation is significantly higher than the rate of precipitation. The prepared compost is moist, compact and can be spread with simple tools.
A daily loading of 16 kg of volatile solids per m3 of digestion capacity produces m3 of gas per kg of cattle dung fed.
Security precautions
Raised bed system is also popular in vegetable crops like potato, carrot, onion and other vegetables. Sowing on raised beds is done using the raised bed planter in lines with closer spacing of 15 cm. The soil in the raised bed is raised above ground level, so the sun and air heat it up faster.
The better aeration in the raised beds helps better root and shoot development of the crop.
Potential of raised bed planting system
Yields with 2 and 3 types of wheat per shaft are comparable, but lodging is greater with 3 types per shaft. Choosing crop cultivars that cover the area early in the season is very important for effective weed control.
Technical details of the technology
On machines with several rows, the furrow openers are typically uniformly distributed over the entire width of the machine. Many factors must be considered when determining the optimal population and spacing (ie, the distance between rows of plants and the distance between plants within a row) for a particular crop. Populations and row spacing can affect weed growth and control, degree of crop lodging, size of seed heads, etc.
The loose and friable nature of the soil can make good soil seed contact difficult to achieve.
Raised Bed Planter
Firming the seedbed after sowing will improve soil contact and seed germination and plant establishment. Grooving the beds in the direction of the bed using water collection grooves, usually formed with pressure wheels, can greatly retain this valuable moisture. The machine with an effective field capacity of 0.2 ha per hour can be operated with a 35-40 hp tractor.
Advantages
Planting wheat in a bed also allows for reduced tillage and crop residue management by reshaping and reusing the same beds without tilling the top of the bed.
Precautions for Raised Bed Planting in Unfavorable and Marginal Environments
Care must be taken to uproot the healthy seedling with the least possible damage to the root system. The tiny roots should be placed horizontally in the soil so that the tip of the root can easily resume its downward growth. With strong root growth and their better access to nutrients and water, the overall vegetative development of the crop is improved, resulting in more photosynthesis.
This improves the overall health of the crop and makes the plants more resistant to pest and disease attacks.
Essential Steps for SRI
In addition, the number of effective rosettes per plant increases with the development of grains in full-sized ears. After adding F.Y.M to the soil, the seed bed should be drenched twice so that the weed seeds that are in the soil/manure can germinate and be destroyed in the process of preparing the seed bed before sowing the seed. Raised beds of 1.0 m width and 10 m length should be prepared in a well-prepared paddy bed.
It should be soaked for 24 hours in a 10 liter water solution with 20-25 g of bavistine + 2g of streptcycline.
Preparation of the field for transplantation
A uniform basal dose of 40 kg P2O5 ha-1 through single superphosphate, 30 kg K2O ha-1 through muriate of potash and 15 kg ha-1 zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) is applied during the second watering and mixed well with soil.
Early and careful transplanting
Transplanting should be done in the early morning or late evening hours as soon as possible after removing the seedlings from the seedbed, preferably within 15 to 30 minutes of clearing. The seedling's tiny roots must be carefully inserted into the ground to minimize trauma during the transplant. Single seedling is planted in a square pattern with a spacing of 25 cm x 25 cm or 30 cm x 30 cm.
A field size rope well bounded in equal lengths of 25cm / 30cm and held straight across the field facilitates proper transplanting in line and at equal distance.
Gap filling
Irrigation
Weeding and intercultural operations
In addition, these weeders mix the soil and help with aeration, and incorporate the weeds into the soil and add organic fertilizer after decomposition. Two weedings at 15 and 30 days after transplanting are sufficient to control weeds in the SRI crop and to improve the physical, chemical and microbial properties of the soil.
Advantages of SRI
Constraints of SRI
Requires level field condition to maintain uniform thin layer of water on soil surface. As a result of the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall, one third of the country is always threatened by drought. Generally under surface irrigation methods only less than half of the water released is utilized by the plant.
Micro-irrigation systems (sprinklers, drips and micro-sprinklers) allow for higher efficiency of water use through controlled water distribution.
Drip Irrigation
In this system, water is supplied to the soil near the root zone of the plants (Fig. 5.3). Some of the precipitates can be dissolved by injecting dilute hydrochloric acid into the systems. With fertilization, the plants receive small amounts of fertilizer early in the crop season, when the plants are in the vegetative stage.
The relative cost of the system decreases as the area increases since some essential components remain the same regardless of the area covered.
Sprinkler Irrigation
A semi-portable system is similar to a fully portable system, except that the location of the water source and pumping equipment are fixed. May be used on more than one field if there is an extended main, but may not be used on more than one field. one farm, unless there are additional plants. A completely permanent system consists of permanently installed main pipes, sub-pipes and side pipes and a stationary water source and pump installation. The application speed of the sprinkler system is limited by the infiltration capacity of the soil.
An application rate that exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soil will cause surface runoff, which will result in water loss, poor water distribution and soil erosion.
Rain gun Sprinkler Irrigation System
Only the rain gun is required to move progressively to these outlets, covering the entire farm in the irrigation cycle. If the pump is less than 3.0 kg/cm2, the rain gun can be used using PVC pipes. In rain gun irrigation, as we only irrigate up to the E.R.D, there is no seepage loss or runoff.
Low Price of Rain Gun: The average price of one piece of rain gun is close to Rs.
Water Management Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture
Water Technology Centre Indian Agricultural Research Institute
Farmer's Participatory Action Research Programme
