Indian Journal of Plant and Soil

Rainfall characteristics such as rainfall intensity, raindrop size and uniformity need to be determined as these are the deviasting parameters in soil erosion. In pressurized irrigation, water is applied, through the network of pipes, to the crop at required depth with the desired pressure. There exists unique relationship (Q = KHx) between pressure and discharge. However, the intensity of rainfall, if simulated, at various pressure, the relationship between pressure and rainfall intensity should be known. The PE of raindrop varies with height of rainfall. The impact of rainfall, in detachment of soil particles, also varies with raindrop size. As such, to know the effect of rainfall height on uniformity, rainfall intensity, raindrop size & wetted diameter at different water pressure, the experiment was carried out on Instructional Farm of Dr. Annasaheb Shinde College of Agricultural Engineering, MPKV, Rahuri by using rainfall simulator. The rainfall was simulated with the help of turbo nozzle. The height of simulator were maintained at the interval of 0.5 m as 4.2, 3.7, 3.2 and 2.7m. The effect of water pressures of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 kg/cm2, at these heights, were studied on rainfall intensity, raindrop size and wetted diameter. The water pressure and rainfall intensity were observed inversely proportional to each other. For simulated rainfall, the raindrop size were found increased with increase in rainfall intensity. Rainfall intensity was found directly proportional to height of rainfall.

The article delves into the Agroecology concepts aimed at providing alternatives for lowinput dryland farming with a history of low groundnut yield in the semiarid regions of Andhra Pradesh. It examines evidence-based agroecology concepts for rainfed groundnut farming, particularly focusing on the high instability of the yield index in Anantapur district. This is achieved through a detailed analysis of rainfall patterns and soil characteristics to determine the suitability of the region for groundnut cultivation. The study spans a period of 45 years (1966 to 2010) and reveals that the rainfall distribution is highly irregular, with pronounced seasonality and extended dry periods, as indicated by a seasonality index ranging from 0.8 to 0.99. By conducting a thorough analysis of rainfall data, three distinct clusters and two principal components were identified, highlighting the variability in both inter and intra seasonal rains. Furthermore, the evaluation of the soil map, which consists of 36 soil mapping units, indicates that only 29.7% of the total area is moderately suitable for groundnut cultivation, while 43% is considered marginally suitable. The unsuitability of the remaining area is attributed to factors such as moisture stress, prolonged dry spells, shallow soils, gravelly and stony surfaces, as well as severely eroded granite landscapes. Considering these findings, the analysis underscores the importance of exploring agroecological alternatives to mitigate these challenges, conserve land resources, and ultimately enhance groundnut yield in the region.

Geographic Information System (GIS) based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model has been used to assess land suitability for sustainable agricultural planning around the Kolaghat Thermal Power Plant (KTPP) in the district Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India. For judging crop potentiality, pair-wise comparisons between the influential factors in AHP have shown the superiority of the soil chemical properties with the highest relative weight of rainfall (0.171738), organic carbon (0.154899) and soil pH (0.123876) for determination of sesame suitability. The lowest weight allocated to flood is 0.020909 and 0.35716 for average minimum temperature. Consistency Ratio (CR) has been calculated and it is < 0.1 which is 0.097875 for all factors which indicates the correctness of the AHP model. In reality, sesame is cultivated in 5.12% area of total area of Kolaghat whereas GIS based AHP model suggests 21.68% area is suitable for economic cultivation of sesame. Moderately suitable areas (78.32%) for sesame need improvement of some soil properties such as soil pH and organic carbon. People are cultivating comparatively in very less area with marginally suitable crops which jeopardize their socio-economic status. GIS based AHP evaluation promotes agricultural and environmental sustainability around the coal-fired thermal power plant.