RA 00015.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

with the traditional blade harrow or "Guntaka."
The weed control activities of farmers of Mahbubnagar
and Akola villages is clearly related to
the quality of the resource base. The better the
growth environment for the crops and weeds, the
better the weed control. On the farms where weed
management was not satisfactory, the major
weeds found were Cynodon, Cyperus, Desmodium,
Digitaria, Echinochloa, Amaranthus,
Celosia, Corchorus, Crotalaria, and Ipomoea.
L o o k i n g A h e a d
in the F a r m i n g Systems
Subprograms
Agroclimatology. Correlation of crop yields to
weather conditions at a network of bench-mark
SAT locations and determination of transferability
of agroproduction technology among different
areas will be attempted. Characterization
of crop moisture availability in order to delineate
homogeneous areas in the SAT is also being
undertaken.
Activities during the initial phases of this work
will include (i) establishing contacts for development
of a meteorological data bank for locations
of interest in the SAT; (ii) conducting agricultural
climatic characterization studies for selected
locations of Africa, Latin America, and
India; and (iii) determining relationships between
crop production and environmental
factors.
Hydrology. Collection of hydrological data on
alternative resource-management systems will
continue at ICRISAT Center as well as in the
cooperative programs. Work on refinement of
sediment samplers-to improve accuracy and
reliability-will continue. Data analyses will be
computerized, and simulation of the runoff process
will be attempted in cooperation with other
research organizations.
Soil physics. Field studies of profile-water recharge
and use will be conducted and detailed
water balances for different periods of time will
be computed for crops grown on Vertisols and
Alfisols during the rainy and postrainy seasons.
In cooperation with ICRISAT's physiologists
and climatologists, a more-complete quantification
of crop development, moisture stress,
energy balances, and phasic root development
will be used together with data on profile-water
dynamics to evaluate a water-use and -yield
model suitable for the soil-crop-atmosphere continuum
at ICRISAT Center.
Soil fertility and chemistry. The long-term
phosphate rock experiment will be continued.
More experiments for the study of response of
sorghum to N in an intercrop situation and pearl
millet/groundnut intercrop responses to N and P
are planned. Monthly sampling for determination
of nutrient status will continue.
Farm power and equipment. Ongoing projects
will be continued, with emphasis on adaptation
of available farm machinery and development
and testing of additional equipment needed to
implement improved farming systems. Special
emphasis will be given to adaptation of simple
low-cost planting units which can sow successfully
on Vertisols and Alfisols under a wide range
of moisture conditions.
In multicropping situations in the SAT, the
first crop is frequently harvested during the end
of the rainy season. Thus, considerable drying
may be required to bring the grain moisture
content to a safe level for storage. Two approaches
to this problem will be studied —
(i) Maize will be stored on the ear and then
shelled after it is dry. Open-sided cribs,
through which air may pass freely, will be
built for storing the maize ears.
(ii) A solar grain dryer, using a flat-plate collector
to heat air by solar energy, is being
designed. The prototype will be used to dry,
on an experimental basis, sorghum and
millet grain during the late rainy season.
Land and water management. Present projects
will be continued in order to improve methodology
and to provide additional data on
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