RA 00015.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

farming system is examined on an operational or
field scale, using animal draft power. This involves
the monitoring of data on a Wide range of
activities - which include inventories of natural
resources, complete water-balance studies
(measurements of rainfall, rainfall intensity,
runoff, soil erosion, nutrient loss, consumptive
use by plants, and deep percolation into shallow
groundwater), investigations of rainfall-use efficiency,
total annual production, human labor
and bullock power utilization, and fertilizer,
pesticide, and other material inputs used in the
systems. The data are interpreted for each of the
soil-, water-, and crop-management treatments
on Alfisol and Vertisol watershed units.
Since water is the first limiting natural factor
for crop production in the SAT, improving the
management of the water and the soil for increased
crop production becomes the primary
aim of the Watershed-based Resource Utilization
research. In rainfed agriculture, only the
rain which falls in a given area is used, thus the
watershed or catchment is the natural focus for
studies of water management in relation to crop
production, resource conservation, and
utilization.
In the operational-scale research phase, economic
evaluations are made in cooperation with
the staff of the Economics program. All labor
and draft-animal time spent in each watershed
unit is recorded. At the end of each crop year, the
input-output data from each of the watershedmanagement
treatments being compared is assembled
and reviewed. Measurements of relative
profitability, rates of return on capital, labor,
and animal power use, etc., are made and those
treatments which appear consistently promising
can be singled out for further study. Data from
ICRISAT and other research institutions are
also being employed in studies involving modelling
and simulation of rainfall-runoff relationships
and crop yield-moisture responses. The
objective here is to assess the potential for water
harvesting and supplementary irrigation under a
Table 64. Land-, water-, and crop-management treatments on watersheds at ICRISAT Center.
Watershed a
No. Area b Planting
method
Technology
used c
Bund
type d
Runoff
Storage (m 3 ) e
Deep Vertisols
BW1 3.41 Bed (0.6%) Impr Graded -
BW2 3.96 Bed (0.6%) Impr Field -
BW3A 5.21 Bed (0.4%) Impr Graded 4000
BW3B 2.15 Flat Impr Field 4000
BW4A 3.07 Flat Impr Field -
BW4B 2.48 Flat Impr Graded 4000
B W 4 C N f 1.31 Flat Impr Field -
BW4CS f 2.14 Flat Trad Field -
B W 5 B N f 0.45 Bed (0.4%) Impr Graded -
BW5BS f 0.67 Bed (0.4%) Trad Graded -
BW6A 1.67 Flat Trad Field -
B W 6 B N f 2.90 Flat Impr Contour -
BW6BS f 1.79 Flat Trad Contour -
BW7A 3.74 Bed (0.6%) Impr Graded 2000
continued
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