Residue management for reducing evaporation in relation to soil type and evaporativity1

Abstract. Usual residue-management options are to remove the residue, use it as mulch with or without undercutting or to incorporate it into the soil. While the role of surface mulch in evaporation has been widely studied, the information on the effect on evaporation of mulch with undercutting or residue incorporated into soil, particularly in relation to soil type and evaporativity (E_o) is lacking. We studied the effect of wheat straw used in various ways on the course of evaporation loss from soil columns with three soils at Ludhiana, India and one soil at Bushland, Texas, USA, under two E_o's Energy-limited evaporation rates under mulch (E_om) followed the soil-specific relation E_om/E_o= a e^(bRes+cEo), where Res is residue rate t/ha and a, b and c are constants; E_o, is expressed in mm/d. In an effort to model the total evaporation (CE) during the energy-limited stage ‘U’ was obtained from appropriate CE versus time curves and (CE-U) was regressed over (t - ti)^0.5 to obtain the slope ‘α’ (Ritchie 1972) for the soil-limited evaporation stage. The observed ‘U’ was independent of mulch rate and E_o but was strongly affected by soil type, Values of ‘α’ decreased with increase in mulch rate and decrease in E_o and coarseness of soil. The otherwise short lived benefit of evaporation reduction with mulch per se, which peaked after a few days was maintained when residue was mixed with soil at the stage when evaporation reduction reached a maximum; this benefit continued for several weeks. Cumulative evaporation values computed from ‘U’ and ‘α’ agreed closely with the observed values under straw mulch for loamy sand and clay loam soils and for ‘undercut’ and ‘residue mixed’ treatments on all soils regardless of E_o, and for all situations under small E_o. However, for sandy loam and silt loam soils under E_o of 10 mm/d, the modified square root of the time function of Jalota et al. (1988) gave a better fit.     

Devastation of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) crops in different agroclimatic zones of India by genetically diverse subgroups of phytoplasma

The sesame crop is highly susceptible to infection by phytoplasmas, a class of cell wall-less plant pathogenic bacteria (Mollicutes), which is responsible for widespread loss of sesame crops in both North and South India in recent years. Therefore, characterizing the pathogen population is required before the control measures can be devised and implemented. With molecular tools based on nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, sequencing, restriction profiling, and phylogenetic analysis, phyllody-affected sesame plants collected from nine different states of India were found to be infected by phytoplasmas belonging to two 16Sr groups, namely 16SrI and II. Two subgroups of phytoplasma −16SrI-B and 16SrII-D— were prevalent in symptomatic sesame samples collected from North India, whereas phytoplasma of only the 16SrII group was found in South India. However, the latter samples were diverse, belonging to three different subgroups (16SrII-A, II-C, and II-D). In addition, yearly phyllody-affected sesame samples from Delhi for 4 consecutive years (2007–2010) showed variation in the infecting phytoplasma: the subgroup 16SrII-D was detected in samples collected in 2007, and 16SrI-B was predominantly found in the samples collected in the subsequent years. The study also provides molecular evidence for the association between 16SrI-B phytoplasma and different symptoms in sesame crops such as fasciation, little leaf, and stunting. This is the first study to report the association of the phytoplasma subgroups 16SrII-A and II-D with sesame crops in India. This study provides a baseline for designing specific detection and molecular analysis strategies for quarantine purposes. It also highlights the need for examining the dynamics of seasonal or location-specific variation in vector populations to determine the pattern of infection outbreaks.     

Hydraulic-hydrological simulations of canal-command for irrigation water management

A modelling system that combines the hydraulic simulations of the canal and hydrological simulations of the irrigated command is introduced. It uses MIKE 11 and MIKE SHE, two well-established modelling systems, for the hydraulic and hydrological simulations respectively. In addition, it also has an irrigation scheduling module and a crop growth module. The modelling system is applied to the Mahanadi Reservoir Irrigation Scheme, a large irrigation project in Central India. The results show that presently a significant amount of water is wasted in the command during the monsoon season. It is demonstrated that the minimization of this wastage could lead to a substantial crop production in the subsequent dry season. Furthermore, the simulations illustrate the versatility of the modelling system for planning and analysing the various aspects of an irrigation project.     

Adsorption-desorption behaviour of flufenacet in five different soils of India

Adsorption-desorption of the herbicide flufenacet (FOE 5043) has been studied in five soils from different locations in India (Delhi, Ranchi, Nagpur, Kerala and Assam) varying in their physicochemical properties. The organic matter (OM) content varied from 0.072 to 0.864%, clay content from 2.5 to 43.7% and pH from 4.45 to 8.35. The adsorption studies were carried out using a batch equilibration technique. Ten grams of soil were equilibrated with 20 ml of aqueous 0.01 M CaCl2 solution containing different concentrations (0-30 mg litre-1) of flufenacet. After equilibration, an aliquot of supernatant was taken out for analysis. During desorption, the amount withdrawn for analysis was replenished with fresh 0.01 M CaCl2 solution and further equilibrated. Desorption studies were carried out with the 30 mg litre-1 concentration of flufenacet only. The adsorption studies revealed that there was moderate to high adsorption of flufenacet considering the comparatively low organic carbon content in the five test soils. Average Kd values ranged from 0.77 to 4.52 and Freundlich KF values from 0.76 to 4.39. The highest adsorption was observed in Kerala soil (OM 0.786%; clay 25%; pH 4.45) followed by Ranchi, Nagpur and Delhi soils, and the lowest in Assam soil (OM 0.553%; clay 2.5%; pH 6.87). The trend in adsorption could be attributed to the chemical nature of flufenacet and the physicochemical properties of the soil such as pH, OM and clay contents. OM and clay contents were positively correlated whereas pH was negatively correlated. Soils having low pH, high OM and high clay contents showed higher adsorption. Desorption studies revealed that there was a hysteresis effect in all the soils. Hysteresis coefficient values (ratio of n(ad) and n(des)) varied from 0.09 to 0.45. The study implies that, because of its moderate to high adsorption, flufenacet is likely to persist in soil for some time. However, the possibility of its movement by leaching or surface run off is less.     

Peste des petits ruminants has been widely present in southern India since, if not before, the late 1980s

Because previous authorities had suggested that small ruminants were playing a part in the dissemination of rinderpest, and a rinderpest-eradication campaign was about to begin, it was necessary to make precise virus identifications from a number of small-ruminant “rinderpest” outbreaks. When this was done using a database created from passive disease reports, we found that epidemics—reportedly due to rinderpest—were in fact due to peste des petits ruminants (PPRs). Although such cases had been common in India for a number of years, earlier clinical and laboratory reports no longer should be regarded as definitive. PPR outbreaks have been frequent in recent years. Further, we suggest that PPR is not a recent invader of India.     

Priority habitats for the conservation of large river fish in the Ganges river basin

• 1. Three classes of habitat used by groups of fish species classified as conservation and management priorities were developed for the Gerua River (also known as the Girwa River, Karnali River) in the Ganges river basin. This river is large (mean annual discharge ca 1500 m³ s^?1, up to 900 m wide), surrounded by protected lands of India and Nepal, and upstream of major diversions and river alterations.
• 2. Fish and habitat sampling was conducted at 45 sites from 2000 to 2003. Data were analysed for 2172 fish of 14 species. Species and life stages found occupying a statistically distinct subset of the river habitats were grouped to identify classes of river habitat for conservation.
• 3. Most species and life‐stage groups specialized on specific habitat conditions revealed by multivariate analyses of variance and a principal component analysis. The most numerous and diverse group (six species, 15 life stages) was associated with deep depositional habitats with sandy substrate. Two species covering three life stages were primarily oriented to erosional habitat marked by fast current velocity with pebble and cobble substrate. A third group of three species of adults and juveniles were intermediate in habitat use.
• 4. River conservation for fish faunas should maintain both erosional and depositional channel habitats with depths, substrates, and current velocity inclusive of the ranges reported. The erosional and depositional nature of the key habitats requires that rivers be maintained with flows capable of channel‐forming functions.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

印度Leh地区沙棘叶中脂肪酸的含量

本文用气相色谱仪分析了印度Leh地区沙棘叶油中种脂肪酸的含量，结果显示：该地区沙棘叶油中富含硬脂酸，其值可以达到13．853％，山嵛酸13．938％，亚油酸7．579％，掬焦油酸6．638％，十八稀酸4．622％。     

Observations on the rooting patterns of some agroforestry trees in an arid region of north-western India

The present study deals with root architecture of 6-year-old trees of 9 indigenous and 3 exotic species growing in arid climate of north-western India. Observations, made on excavated root systems (3 tree replicates of each species) showed large variation in horizontal and vertical spread of roots. In Morus alba, Melia azedarach and Populus deltoides, the roots were confined to 80 cm, while in Prosopis cineraria, Acacia nilotica and Eucalyptus tereticornis, roots penetrated more deeply to 233 cm. The number of total roots ranged from 103 in Acacia catechu to 1932 in Eucalyptus tereticornis, and 62 to 80% of the roots were less than 2 mm in diameter. The primary roots were more horizontal than the secondary roots. The total root biomass varied from 2.2 kg in Acacia catechu to 30.6 kg^–1 tree in Populus deltoides, and top 30 cm soil contained 42 to 78% of the total biomass. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the ecological niche of the species, and its usefulness in agroforestry systems.     

The effect of cattle foot traffic on soil compaction in a silvo-pastoral system

In India, small farmers have generally found that the growing of eucalypts as a cash crop provides poor returns, and many have reverted to growing annual crops. Farmgate prices have been much lower than retail prices, due to the existence of middlemen, and retail prices have fallen to lower levels than expected as markets have become saturated. This article describes the situation in eastern Gujarant, where farmers sold their eucalypts directly to buyers at prices close to those in organised wood markets. An important reason for this unusual situation is the absence in Gujarat of controls on eucalyptus sales, which has helped producers to avoid dependence on rent-seeking intermediaries. The survey shows that growing eucalyptus can be a profitable activity for small farmers, given the right circumstances.     

A study of the potential of hedgerow intercropping in semi-arid India using a two-way systematic design

The potential of hedgerow intecrropping with Leucaena leucocephala was explored on vertic Inceptisols over 4 years at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India. The study was conducted using a systematic layout involving different alley widths ranging from 1.35 to 4.95 m and with varying distances between hedge and crops. The alleys were cropped with alternate rows of sorghum and pigeonpea. Hedges composed double Leucaena hedgerows 60 cm apart were periodically harvested for fodder. Sole crops of all components and a sorghum/pigeonpea intercrop were included in all four replications of the study.Starting in the second year, Leucaena was progressively more competitive to annual crops, causing substantial yield reduction. Competition (primarily for moisture) was most severe in narrow alleys and was greatest on pigeonpea.The growth of Leucaena was not sufficient to compensate for reduced crop yields. Land equivalent ratios (LERs) calculated on the basis of grain yield of crops and Leucaena fodder yields showed that hedgerow intercropping (HI) was advantageous over sole crops only during the first two years using wide alleys, but disadvantegeous in the last two years. LERs calculated on the basis of total dry matter indicated only a small advantage for HI (13–17 percent) over sole crops in wider (>4 m) alleys. Average returns per year from HI exceeded those of the most productive annual crop system (sorghum/pigeonpea intercropping) by 8 percent in 4.05 m alleys, and by 16 percent in 4.95 m alleys. Fodder production during the dry season was 40 percent of the annual total in these alley widths. Thus hedgerow intercropping at 4–5 m alley width is not very attractive for farmers in semi-arid India, which has 600–700 mm of annual rainfall. There is a need to examine the potential of HI in wider alleys. The merits and limitations of the systematic design are discussed.