Effect of Soil and Water Conservation Measures (Field Bunds) on Soil Moisture Content in Beeralagudda Micro Watershed

An investigation was carried out during 2012-13 to know the effect of soil and water conservation methods in Beeralagudda micro watershed which comes under Gajapura sub-watershed in Badeladaku village, Kudlgi Taluk, Bellary District of Karnataka State. The soil and water conservation measures were implemented in this watershed under the scheme integrated watershed management programme under the project code of IWMP/3/09-10. This micro watershed is having a total area of 914 ha and having average rainfall of 560mm. Under this investigation, the three treatments were imposed to know soil moisture retention; the three treatments were bund formation-dosing method by dozer, trench cum bund formation -by JCB and without any treatment (control) in plane land. The results show that the mean soil moisture content was retained more in case of trench cum bund formation by earth moving equipment (JCB) (15.13%) followed by bund formation-dosing method by earth moving equipment (JCB) (10.17%) and least in case of control treatment i.e. without any treatment in plane land (7.76%).