Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Impact of Pusa Hydrogel Application on Yield and Productivity of Rainfed Wheat in North West Himalayan Region


Affiliations
1 ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
 

Farmers in the North West Himalayan region generally practise rainfed agriculture and have very limited scope for irrigation. Water scarcity is a major constraint for crop production in these areas. This problem exacerbates further during the Rabi season where vagaries of winter rain result in complete crop failure. This study was conducted in the Raipur Block of Dehradun district in the farmer’s field to study the impact of hydrogel on yield and productivity of wheat. Hydrogel is a hydrophilic polymer having high water holding capacity and can provide water to crops during moisture stress. Hydrogel was applied in the field in Rabi wheat with two broad treatments, i.e. with hydrogel (WH) and without hydrogel (WHO). Each treatment was replicated ten times, i.e. ten demonstrations were laid out in the field conditions. Hydrogel was applied at the rate of 5 kg ha–1 and observations related to various plant growth parameters and yield were recorded. The plant population in hydrogel plots increased by 22% compared to the non-hydrogel treated plots. The effective tillers, plant height, ear length and grains per ear significantly improved due to hydrogel application. The total yield as well as grain yield increased significantly after hydrogel amendment. The improved performance of wheat upon hydrogel application was evident in the field. This technology could be promising in terms of productivity improvement of rainfed crops and in combating the moisture stress in agriculture.

Keywords

Hydrogel, Northwest Himalayas, Rainfed Wheat, Yield.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Venkateswarlu, B., Rainfed agriculture in India: issues in technology development and transfer. Model training course on Impact of climate change in rainfed agriculture and adaptation strategies, CRIDA, Hyderabad, India, 22–29 November 2011.

  • Fan, S. and Hazel, P., Should developing countries invest more in less-favored lands? an empirical analysis of rural India. Econ. Pol. Wkly, 2000, 34, 1455–1464.

  • Kalhapure, A., Kumar, R., Singh, V. P. and Pandey, D. S., Hydrogels: a boon for increasing agricultural productivity in waterstressed environment. Curr. Sci., 2016, 111(11), 1773–1779.

  • Devendra, C., Improvement of value supply chains in sustainable small ruminant production to consumption systems in Asia. Indian J. Anim. Sci., 2016, 86, 3–10.

  • Schacht, E. H., Polymer chemistry and hydrogel systems. J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., 2004, 3, 22–28.

  • Bowman, D. C. and Evans, R. Y., Calcium inhibition of polyacrylamide gel hydration is partially reversible by potassium. Hortic. Sci., 1991, 26(8), 1063–1065.

  • El-Hady, O. A. and Abo-Sedera, S. A., Conditioning effect of composts and acrylamide hydrogels on a sandy calcareous soil. II physico-biochemical properties of the soil. Int. J. Agric. Biol., 2006, 8(6), 876–884.

  • Narjary, B. and Aggarwal, P., Evaluation of soil physical quality under amendments and hydrogel applications in a soybean–wheat cropping system. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 2014, 45(9), 1167–1180.

  • Rehman, A., Ahmad, R. and Safdar, M., Effect of hydrogel on the performance of aerobic rice sown under different techniques. Plant Soil. Environ., 2011, 57, 321–325.

  • Tyagi, V., Singh, R. K. and Nagargade, M., Effect of hydrogel, NPK and irrigation levels on yield, nutrient uptake and water use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Res. Crop, 2015, 16(4), 653–656.

  • Borivoj, S., Rak, L. and Bubenikova, I., The effect of hydroabsorbent on selected soil biological and biochemical characteristics and its possible use in revitalization. Ecologia, 2006, 25(4), 422–429.

  • Annual Report, 2012–13, Directorate of Wheat Research, Karnal, 2013, p. 128.

  • Partap, T., Hill agriculture: challenges and opportunities. Indian J. Agric. Econ., 2011, 66(1), 33.

  • Dar, S. B. and Ram, H., Productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in relation to hydrogel as influenced by different irrigation regimes and nutrient levels. Int. J. Chem. Stud., 2017, 5(5), 609– 613.

  • Akhter, J., Mahmood, K., Malik, K. A., Mardan, A., Ahmad, M. and Iqbal, M. M., Effects of hydrogel amendment on water storage of sandy loam and loam soils and seedling growth of barley, wheat and chickpea. Plant Soil. Environ., 2004, 50(10), 463–469.

  • Zhang, Z. J., Shi, L., Zhang, C. Y. and Zhang, J. Z., Response of Superabsorbent polymer under different water gradients on growth characteristics of Parthenocissus quinquefolis. Bull. Bot. Res., 2005, 25(1), 74–79.

  • Anupama, S., Singh, M. C., Kumar, B. S. and Kumar, P. A., Performance of new superabsorbent polymer on seedling and post planting growth and water use pattern of Chrysanthemum under controlled environment. Acta Hortic., 2005, 618, 215–224.

  • Yezdani, F., Allahadadi, I. and Akbari, G. A., Impact of superabsorbent polymer on yield and growth analysis of soybean (Glycine max L.) under drought stress condition. Pak. J. Biol. Sci., 2007, 10(23), 4190–4196.

  • Singh, S. P., Singh, R. K. and Kumar, S., Effect of irrigation schedule, mulching and hydrogel on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). J. Pharmacog. Phyto., 2017, 6(5), 2659–2973.


Abstract Views: 425

PDF Views: 145




  • Impact of Pusa Hydrogel Application on Yield and Productivity of Rainfed Wheat in North West Himalayan Region

Abstract Views: 425  |  PDF Views: 145

Authors

Trisha Roy
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Suresh Kumar
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Lekh Chand
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
D. M. Kadam
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Bankey Bihari
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
S. S. Shrimali
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Rajesh Bishnoi
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
U. K. Maurya
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Madan Singh
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
M. Muruganandam
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Lakhan Singh
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
S. K. Sharma
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Rakesh Kumar
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India
Anil Mallik
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Dehradun 248 195, India

Abstract


Farmers in the North West Himalayan region generally practise rainfed agriculture and have very limited scope for irrigation. Water scarcity is a major constraint for crop production in these areas. This problem exacerbates further during the Rabi season where vagaries of winter rain result in complete crop failure. This study was conducted in the Raipur Block of Dehradun district in the farmer’s field to study the impact of hydrogel on yield and productivity of wheat. Hydrogel is a hydrophilic polymer having high water holding capacity and can provide water to crops during moisture stress. Hydrogel was applied in the field in Rabi wheat with two broad treatments, i.e. with hydrogel (WH) and without hydrogel (WHO). Each treatment was replicated ten times, i.e. ten demonstrations were laid out in the field conditions. Hydrogel was applied at the rate of 5 kg ha–1 and observations related to various plant growth parameters and yield were recorded. The plant population in hydrogel plots increased by 22% compared to the non-hydrogel treated plots. The effective tillers, plant height, ear length and grains per ear significantly improved due to hydrogel application. The total yield as well as grain yield increased significantly after hydrogel amendment. The improved performance of wheat upon hydrogel application was evident in the field. This technology could be promising in terms of productivity improvement of rainfed crops and in combating the moisture stress in agriculture.

Keywords


Hydrogel, Northwest Himalayas, Rainfed Wheat, Yield.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv116%2Fi7%2F1246-1251