MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS UNDER VARIOUS PROGRAMMES

RAINWATER MANAGEMENT

• Rubber dam technology was developed for watershed management and installed at 3 sites of Khurda district of Orissa. The impact of rubber dam installation for soil and water conservation, drought proofing, flood control etc. were analysed and documented.

• Study on micro-catchments rainwater harvesting for horticultural crops in humid region was conducted at DWM research farm for three horticultural crops like Mango, Sapota and Banana. Four types of micro-catchments were constructed for Mango and Sapota plants such as square, cup & saucer, diamond and circular shape. In case, of banana, three different spacings were maintained i.e., 2 X 2 m, 2.5 X 2.5m and 3 X 3 m in the square shape micro-catchment. Before imposing the treatments, initial crop growth parameters were recorded.

• Economically important CAM plants like pineapple (Ananas comosus)was grown and its cultivation packages were standardized for improving the land use in rainfed up and medium lands.

• Rice crop grown under integrated nutrient with sesbania green manure and chemical fertilizers resulted in lower energy input (8095.1 MJ/ha), higher energy output (143496 MJ/ha), and higher energy output: input ratio (17.7) as compared to the crop grown under chemical fertilizers alone. The save in chemical fertilizers under integrated nutrient involving sesbania green manure was 36.5 kg N, 5.9 kg P2O5 and 11.8 kg K2O/ha. Paired row planting of okra produced similar yield (7.43 t/ha) with the normal planting but with the less irrigation requirement by 18%.

• Water budgeting in grow-out aquaculture of some commercial important fish and prawn species were worked out. Upto Rs. 30,000/ha net returns were obtained from the adopted farming system.

• Water resources were developed in two clusters of villages in the Dhenkanal district through construction of water harvesting structures. Rs. 30,000/ha was obtained from the adopted farming system.

CANAL WATER MANAGEMENT

• Vermicompst application (10 t /ha) resulted in 61 and 47% higher fruit yield compared to control in capsicum and tomato, respectively. Application of vermicompost reduced the incidence of blossom end rots (BER) by 9.6% in Capsicum whereas the incidence of BER was not observed in tomato. Application of vermicompost invariably improved the microbial biomass carbon content and organic content of soil.

• Application of silver colour mulch enhanced the fruit yield of Capsicum and tomato by 38 and 47%, respectively.

• Grain yield with system of rice intensification (SRI) method was 44% higher than with conventional transplanting flooded practices. Enhancement in grain yield in SRI was found at every N application doses. The highest grain yield was found at 90 kg N ha-1 under SRI. Among six SRI components, use of younger seedling (12-days) was found the most important component responsible for yield enhancement under SRI. Harvesting of rainwater from SRI field and its use for fish culture as well as supplementary irrigation to rice significantly enhanced the water productivity to Rs. 7.61 Rs./m3.

•  Field experiments on groundnut and potato revealed that paired row planting of groundnut on beds spaced at 45 cm enhanced pod yield by 18-20% and saved a significant amount of irrigation water by 26-41% over the flat method of planting and enhanced crop water use efficiency (WUE) and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). For potato, paired row planting at 75 x 20 cm spacing (paired row at 25 cm) maintained a similar crop yield as in normal planting and reduced the irrigation water requirement by 32% and also enhanced crop WUE and IWUE compared to normal planting, under rice-based cropping system.

• Results of field experiments showed that the crop yield, in terms of rice equivalent yield (pooled over three years) increased by 273, 113, 106 & 58%, water use efficiency (WUE) by 414, 100, 87 & 49%, benefit/cost ratio by 77, 38, 43 & 20%, production efficiency by 201, 50, 50 & 14%, land utilization index by 27, 45, 40 & 42% in rice-tomato-okra, rice-sunflower-rice, rice-maize-rice, rice-cowpea-rice, respectively when compared to rice-fallow-rice system. In drip irrigation method, water saving was 29, 3, 13 and 30% in maize, cowpea, sunflower and tomato, respectively when compared to furrow irrigation. The irrigation WUE increased by about 36% when drip irrigation was used.

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT

• Flow to sea through shallow fresh aquifer was estimated by analytical approach.

• The chemical characteristics of the Daya river water and groundwater revealed that these contain nitrate and iron beyond the permissible limit as per BIS and FAO standards for irrigation. The groundwater samples along Daya River were found to be of poor quality and unsuitable for drinking purpose. The high value of water quality index (WQI) was found due to higher values of iron, manganese, magnesium, nitrate, hardness, calcium, alkalinity and bicarbonate in the groundwater. The impact of poor quality water on soil characteristics revealed an increase of the exchangeable cations and the decrease of the major available nutrients N and P.

• The spatio - temporal studies of wastewater characteristics of city wastewater revealed the quality of water changed with time and space.  The column study in laboratory on the effect of wastewater on soil properties showed that increased organic matter and major nutrients (available N, P and K) in surface soils are indicative of increase in fertility with wastewater irrigation. The field studies showed that physical properties were not deteriorated with wastewater irrigation. Soils with wastewater irrigation were enriched with nutrient elements and organic matter. None of the samples in the study exceeded the critical concentration limit of Cd, Pb and Zn.

•  An assessment of the impacts of irrigation markets and economics involved in water trade and transactions reveals that overall cropping intensity in the area is 178.66, irrigation cost is Rs. 1616.93 per acre, crop output (yield) Rs. 32263 per acre. When comparing theses indicators among the water user groups ie.water buyers and sellers, indicators including irrigation cost was in favour of water buyers groups. This suggests a positive impact of the irrigation services on their sustaining livelihood. The cost of irrigation water was estimated and average, per hour irrigation cost worked out to be Rs 43.21, inclusive fuel cost.

WATERLOGGED AREA MANAGEMENT

• Practice of brackish water shrimp farming increases the salt stress of adjacent water resources that varies inconsistently over space and with time. Depending upon soil textural compositions this practice develop persistent soil salinity (ECe) exponentially (y = 1.46e1.09x, R2 = 0.79) from 0.2 - 1.1 to 1.4 - 5.0 dS/m if the ratio of (silt + clay) / sand, ranged from 0.8 to 3.35; whereas it grew as y = 0.29x2 + 0.04x + 2.25, R2 = 0.0.79 by 1.33 to 40 times if the ratio was 0.52 to 1.72, with increasing ESP and dispersion of soil structure Application of 0, 30, 60 and 90 kgha-1 level of N at three different stages of plant growth i.e. basal, 3 months and 6 months after planting revealed that plant height represented by tallest leaf showed significant increase at 90kg N level upto 98.83 cm when applied as basal dosage. Similar trend was noted with leaf chlorophyll content and specific leaf weight of the emerged leaves.

• Analysis of soil and water quality in waterlogged high rainfall area of Kendrapara district in Orissa revealed that soil is acidic (pH 6.0). EC, available N and available potassium were found as 0.40 dSm-1, 241 kg ha-1 and 190.6 kg ha-1, respectively with EC of the groundwater ranged between 0.82 to 4.6 dSm-1. Rainfall analysis of the study area established an average annual rainfall of 1452 mm with minimum, maximum and weekly average rainfall of 31 mm, 102 mm and 62.3 mm, respectively, which occurred between 24th- 41st weeks. A mismatch in occurrence of rainfall and canal water supply in the area was reported, as canal water supply continued from 2nd week of July - 3rd week of November, when almost 70 per cent of monsoon rain occurs; where as a short supply continued during 2nd week of January-1st week of February during rabi season with occurrence of no rainfall. Due to satisfactory functioning of the field drain, Swarna Sub-1 paddy yielded more (by 140 per cent) in comparison to yield of the un-drained paddy crop.

• The efficacy of alternative crops in rabi/summer season for post flood management like sunflower, okra, sweet potato and bittergourd was tested in Raisar village, Kendrapada district, Orissa. Okra resulted in superior fruit yield of 3.73 t ha-1 under zero tillage compared to 3.26 t ha-1 under conventional tillage. Bitter gourd resulted in fruit yield of 4.30 t ha-1 under zero tillage compared to 4.06 t ha-1 in conventional tillage. However, Zero tillage resulted in lower tuber yield in sweet potato (5.90 t ha-1) compared to conventional tillage (6.63 t ha-1) under post flood situation. The farmers could generate additional net returns of 19,850/- with sunflower Rs. 27,030/- with bhendi Rs. 36,600/- with bittegourd and Rs. 24,400/- with sweet potato compared to their pre project status of the land (fallow).

•  A study was undertaken to assess the waterlogging and land use system in different coastal districts of Orissa using remote sensing and GIS.

• Water productivity of major crops were estimated both in physical and economic terms. The numerator was estimated both in terms of yield, gross and net value of product. The denominator was estimated following water balance approach.

ON-FARM RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY DISSEMINATION

• Characterization of Kuanria Medium Irrigation Project at Daspalla block of Nayagarh district in Orissa revealed variations of designed and existing discharge rate of minors and subminors for right as well as left distributary. Existing discharge rate is on an average 10-12% lower than the designed rate; the variation is higher in case of right distributary (ranging from 6 to 76%) as compared left distributary (ranging from 5 to 20%). About 3757 ha in and 1369 ha in rabi irrigation out of the cultivable command area (CCA) of 3780 ha in kharif and 1908 ha in rabi season which indicates the gap between potential created and utilized especially in rabi season.

• To understand the dynamic process for reducing poverty in the poverty-laden agro-ecologies by tracking the household and village economies complete enumeration of village household population was done by household census survey in the first phase in the four selected villages across farm size groups in Orissa. Data being collected on monthly basis for household, individual, field specific, plot level data on agriculture, labour, expenditure, income and consumption throughout the year to address the dynamics of economic, social and institutional development.

• Farmers participatory action research programme has been initiated in 5 districts of Orissa viz., Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Puri, Dhenkanal, Khurda on irrigation efficiency, conjunctive use of water and treadle pump technology.