Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in Ringnodia Micro-watershed
2012
m c chaurasia | g p saraf | o p verma | r a sharma | r s nema | y m kool | y s chauhan
The current productivity of rainfed lands in Madhya Pradesh, India is about 1.0 t ha-1 although there isscope to obtain >3 t ha-1. To assess and evaluate the potential of improved soil, water, and nutrientmanagement options through integrated watershed management at Ringnodia in Indore in westernMadhya Pradesh, a micro-watershed of 390 ha was delineated. Soybean is a major crop during the rainyseason and yield of <1 t ha-1 is obtained in the micro-watershed. Landholdings in the watershed aregenerally small. The input use is low with little soil and water conservation measures in vogue amongfarmers. About 30?40% of the total rainfall is lost through runoff, carrying productive soils and nutrientswhile crops experienced drought stress in the rainy as well as postrainy seasons. With a critical advisorysupport from scientists, the watershed farmers could augment water storage capacity in the villagethrough construction of percolation/storage tanks and renovation of existing ponds. For safe disposal ofwater from the watershed, waterways were developed and wire mesh bound boulder structures wereconstructed to reduce soil loss and runoff. These water storage structures could store up to 30 ha-m waterrepresenting about 70% of total runoff from 100 ha cultivated area and thus reduce runoff and soil losses.This increased groundwater recharge, which manifested in increased water table in most wells includingthe abandoned ones.The scenario analysis suggested various cropping options for enhanced yield with limited irrigation(soybean-wheat) or under rainfed conditions (pigeonpea/sorghum intercrop). Sorghum/pigeonpeaintercrop was, however, less popular amongst the farmers. The introduction of extra-short-durationpigeonpea opened avenues for diversification and its adoption is likely to increase. Under rainfedconditions, double cropping could be practiced in two out of three postrainy seasons. Soybean yieldsincreased marginally by gypsum application and also by planting on mini-ridges. The medium-durationchickpea cultivar JG 218 gave higher yield than short-duration cultivars ICCV 2 and ICCC 37 indicatingsufficient moisture for the traditional types. Pests were the major yield reducers in soybean and adoption ofintegrated pest management options nearly tripled soybean yield.In another micro-watershed at the College of Agriculture, Indore interaction between land and waterconservation measures and efficient cropping systems was examined. Soybean/pigeonpea strip crop andsoybean-wheat systems were more productive than soybean-chickpea and soybean-linseed systems.Chickpea and wheat could easily be established with minimum tillage when planted in moist seed zone at15 cm depth after the harvest of soybean
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]R A Sharma et al., 'Improving Management of Natural Resources for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in Ringnodia Micro-watershed', pp.134-148, 2012
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