Quantification of runoff, soil loss and yield of crops under different cropping systems in North Eastern Ghat Agro-Climatic Zone of Odisha Subudhi C.R., Senapati S.C., Subudhi Rageswari, Panigrahi B.* College of Agricultural Engineering and Technolgoy, Orissa University of Agricultural and Technology, Odisha *E-mail: kajal_bp@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 9 October, 2018. Abstract Experiments were conducted in the research farm of All India Coordinated Research Project on Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA) of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology at Phulbani in Kandhamal district during kharif season for three years from 2007 to 2009 with the objectives to quantify the runoff and soil loss under different cropping systems and develop relationship among them including development of relationship between rainfall vs. runoff and rainfall vs. soil loss. The treatments tried were T1-Sole crop of rice, T2-Sole crop of pigeon pea. T3-Sole crop of groundnut, T4-Pigeonpea and rice in alternate strips, T5-Pigeon pea and groundnut in alternate strips, T6-Intercrop of rice and pigeon pea (5: 2), T7-Intercrop of groundnut and pigeon pea (4: 2), T8-Uncultivated fallow, and T9-Cultivated fallow. All crops in treatments T1 to T7 were planted along the contour. Intercrop of groundnut and pigeon pea (4: 2) (treatment T7) gave significantly highest rice equivalent yield compared to other treatments in all the three years. Mean rice equivalent yield in treatment T7 was found to be the highest with value of 55.57 q ha−1. Pigeon pea and groundnut intercropping (2: 4) increased the mean rice equivalent yield by 158.1, 96.8 and 21.4%, respectively when compared with sole crop of rice, pigeon pea and groundnut, respectively. Treatment T7 gave the lowest runoff of 309 mm which is 23% less than the cultivated fallow i.e. treatment T9 (400 mm). The same treatment also gave the lowest soil loss (8.03 t ha−1) which is 47% lower than the treatment T9 which gave the highest soil loss of 15.19 t ha−1. Treatment T7 was observed to give the lowest mean runoff (24.2% of rainfall) compared to other treatments. Relationship among rainfall, runoff and soil loss were developed and found to be satisfactory with high values of coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.90). Hence the developed relationships (models) can be used to predict runoff and soil loss from known value of rainfall. Top Keywords Crop, Equivalent yield, Ground nut, Pigeon pea, Productivity, Rainfall, Runoff, Soil loss. Top |