Performance Assessment of Soil Moisture Meter under Sandy Clay Loam Soil

Background: Irrigation performs a substantial function for the growth of Agricultural vegetation. Soil supplies essential nutrients for the growth of plant and provides anchor support to the roots of the crops. Soil Moisture permits the requirement for water system to be measured ahead of a yield giving indications of misery. Knowing the soil moisture status empowers exceptionally productive water system, giving the water as and when required and wiping out the inefficient utilization of water when water system isn’t required. Methods: Sandy clay loam soil contains a decent arrangement of plant supplements and supports most sorts of plants and yields. So in the field plentiful accessibility of this soil its texture is discovered by estimating soil moisture. Result: Within the research we developed a soil moisture meter based on capacitive type sensor the output is analog voltage which is calibrated to soil moisture percentage and its performance is comparatively investigated with different moisture sensor under sandy clay loam soil. The proposed model is highly emphasized on the soil moisture percentage that is the level of water content in the soil. The percentage value is displayed in the LCD. The deployment cost is highly reduced in the proposed model.

Effect of Long-term Cropping Systems on Soil Hydrophobicity of a Clay Loam Soil Under Dryland Conditions in Southern Alberta

The objective was to quantify the effect of crop rotations, crop type, life cycle, nitrogen fertilizer, manure application, and fallow on soil hydrophobicity (SH). The SH was measured for a long-term (16 yr) dryland field experiment on a Dark Brown clay loam soil in southern Alberta, Canada. Mean SH was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) greater in rotations with grass, perennial crops, manure application, and continuous cropping; whereas cereal-legume rotations and N fertilizer effects were undetectable. A strong, positive correlation occurred between SH and soil organic carbon concentration (r=0.73). Soil water repellency should be measured on these plots using water-based methods.

Influence of soil moisture on energy requirement of rotary tilling

The rotary tiller with ‘L’ shaped blades was examined for torque, power and specific tilling energy requirements to attain optimum soil-machine operational parameters. The three levels of moisture content (11.4%, 12.8% and 14.6% (d.b)), three speed ratios of 20 (?1), 12 (?2) and 9 (?3) at different passes (first, second and third) with rotational speed of 262 rpm were selected for study. The observations indicated inverse relation between torque and power requirement to moisture content. The lowest value of torque of 16.54 N-m and 26.66 N-m was associated with sandy loam and clay loam soil under third pass and moisture content of 14.6 per cent. Similarly, the minimum power requirement of 0.452 kW and 0.699 kW was observed under analogous conditions of rotary tiller. The energy requirement was found to decrease with higher number of passes due to the breakdown of the hard pan and clod aggregate size. The specific tilling energy is strongly correlated with forward speed and less dependent on the number of the passes of rotary tilling.

Response of chilli to drip irrigation on sandy clay loam soil under Madukkur soil series (Typic ustropept) in cauvery New Delta Zone

In Tamil Nadu, one of the most important agro-climatic zone dictating the total rice production is by Cauvery Delta zone. In Cauvery Delta zone the area under rice cultivation has been reduced drastically and this situation forms the base for a paradigm shift from rice cultivation to alternate crops that requires less amount of irrigation water. Suitable alternate cropping pattern plays an important role in improving the purchasing power of farmer with the help of inclusion of commercial crops in rice based cropping system. Chilli is an important spice cum vegetable crop cultivated extensively in India. This project is indented to study the fertigation system in one of promising alternate crops in chillies in rice ecosystem. By keeping all these points in view, the present investigation was undertaken to study the response of chilli to drip irrigation on sandy clay loam soil under Madukkur soil series (Typic Ustropept) in cauvery new delta zone. Field experiment was conducted at Soil and Water Management Research Institute, Kattuthottam, Thanjavur financially supported by Department of Science and Technology under SERB programme with a budget outlay of Rs. 13.0 lakhs for three years during 2012-2015 in strip plot design with four replications. The results revealed that Sub surface drip fertigation at 10 cm depth recorded the maximum plant height, number of branches, number of flowers and number of fruits at B2 irrigation regime (IW/CPE = 0.75). Total green chillies yield was higher under sub surface drip fertigation @ 10 cm depth at IW/CPE=1 (15.59 t ha-1) followed by surface drip fertigation at IW/CPE = 0.75 (13.50 t ha-1) and sub surface drip fertigation @ 10 cm depth at IW/CPE = 0.75 (11.17 t ha-1).Thus, introduction of chillies as an alternate crop under sub surface drip fertigation @ 10 cm depth technology during January under Broad bed furrow method of cultivation paves the way for improving the social security to the rice farmers.