Author name: Examups

1 Rain-water management for teak (Tectona grandis Linn, f.), mango (Mangifera indica Linn.) and neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) in arid and semi-arid regions Description of the ITK This practice is to retain rain water in the soil and to grow trees, particularly mango, neem and teak, which are best suited for arid and semi-arid regions. The practice is appropriate for a garden or estate where teak, mango or neem trees are grown. This technique may be adopted in areas where there is less water available. There is no practical risk and it is easy to handle, less labour intensive and best suited for such trees. This is in practice in Periakovilankullam village of Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. Name and address of the discloser Thiru S. Murugesan, Periakovilankulam, Sankararkovil, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu 627 953. Location of use of the ITK Periakovilankulam, Sankararkovil (P.O.), Tirunelveli district (Tamil Nadu) 627 953. Experimenters Dr. S.V.K Hiswaran, Associate Professor, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Coimbatore 641 301 (Tamil Nadu), Dr. G. Subba Reddy, Head, Division of Crop Sciences, Dr. N.N. Reddy, Senior Scientist (Horticulture), Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500 059 (Andhra Pradesh). Results and discussion An unstructured interview was conducted to obtain the details of the ITK prior to conducting the experiment. The experiment was laid out at Forest Research College, Mettupalayam (Tamil Nadu) for 3 years (2002-2004) for trees of teak, mango and neem to assess the effect of soil moisture-conservation practices by making micro-depressions around the basin of the plant (ITK method). This was compared with the conventional basin method for the first and second years. As a part of cross validation, the experiments were conducted at Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad with grass mulch in 3 years old trees of mango and teak during third year 2004. Moisture content in soil More moisture was retained in the treatments under teak and neem compared with the treatments in mango. The moisture content was maximum at 60 cm depth in both the treatments throughout the period. With increase in soil depth from 15 to 60 cm, soil-moisture retention increased. Biometric observations It is evident that the growth of trees was faster in the method of micro-depressions over the other treatments and the difference was still obvious with pebble mulch during summer. Soil analysis Available nitrogen and potassium content in soil was not influenced by the treatments. However, available phosphorus content (20.3 kg/ ha) was higher in the treatment of micro-depression than in the basins (15.7 kg/ha). The growth of teak and mango at Mettupalayam and Hyderabad indicate that while micro-depression favoured growth of the trees at Mettupalayam, it had no impact on tree growth at Hyderabad. Treatments in mango recorded lower percentage of soil-moisture retention, which might be due to the variation in the distance of micro-depressions made. High rainfall intensities lead to filling of the microdepressions with soil and all the treatments would be at par with each other at this condition, whereas microdepressions (ITK) were helpful in retaining more moisture during low-intensity rain-fall periods and helped avoid death of trees due to continuous droughts. Conclusion The advantage of the micro-depressions method is that it can retain the soil transported by erosion in the run-off water, by collecting in the micro-depressions. The micro-depression method has been found to intercept more run-off water compared with basin method. This method has been found to be useful where trees are grown under rainfed conditions. Soil fertility tends to improve in plots where microdepressions were made at Mettupalayam. 2 Rain-water measurement using rolu (indigenous raingauge) Description of the ITK Rolu (7.4” depth, 9” diameter hole on a 3’x3’x1.5’ granite stone block) is useful in knowing the quantity of rainfall for sowing. Seeds in the field are sown when the rolu is filled with rain-water. This technique helps the farmers in estimating the rainfall that is sufficient to go for seeding. This method is adopted for sowing dryland crops like sorghum, castor etc. in Alfisols. Name and address of the discloser Shri Narasimha Reddy, Nallavelli, Yacharam mandal, Ranga Reddy dist., Andhra Pradesh. Location of use of the ITK Nallavelli village, Yacharam mandal, Ranga Reddy dist., Andhra Pradesh. Experimenters Dr. V. Maruthi, Senior Scientist (Agronomy), Dr. G. Subba Reddy, Head, Division of Crop Sciences and Shri N.N.Srivastava, Principal Scientist (Agrometeorology), Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500 059. Results and discussion Experimental validation was done under both on-station (CRIDA Research Farms at Gunegal and Hayathnagar) and on-farm situations in the villages of Nallavelli, Nasdik Singaram of Ranga Reddy district and Gollapalli village of Nalgonda district during rainy (kharif) season. The rainfall from both indigenous and standard rain-gauges established at different experimental sites was recorded during rain events during July-October 2002-04. Simultaneously, the various agricultural operations done by the farmers were related with the rainfall received during growing season of crops such as sorghum + pigeon pea, castor etc. Operations performed in relation to depth of rain water received in indigenous rain-gauge On-station trial Sorghum + pigeonpea were sown by 50-100% farmers in 3 days when the indigenous rain-gauge was filled to >3/4 capacity or more in the research station. Castor was sown for 1-3 days when the indigenous rain-gauge was up to >3/4 capacity, leading to 100% sowings. On-farm trials Sorghum+ pigeonpea were sown in 2-7 days by the farmers, leading to 100% sowings with rain-water filling to 1/2—>3/4th capacity of the indigenous raingauge. In Nallavelli of Yacharam mandal of Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh, it was recorded that when the rainfall received in indigenous raingauge ranged from 1/2 to full, which was about 8-33 mm in standard rain-gauge, it resulted in 100% sowing of sorghum + pigeon pea crops in the farmers’ fields. It was observed that the rainfall received in indigenous rain-gauge when corrected was nearer to the recorded rainfall of standard rain-gauge. Conclusion When the indigenous rain-gauge was full, sorghum + pigeon pea were sown by all the farmers within 3