Evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical element of the hydrological cycle, and its proper assessmen... more Evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical element of the hydrological cycle, and its proper assessment is essential for irrigation scheduling, agricultural and hydro-meteorological studies, and water budget estimation. It is computed for most applications as a product of reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) and crop coefficient, notably using the well-known two-step method. Accurate predictions of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) using limited meteorological inputs are critical in data-constrained circumstances, and the preferred FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM) equation cannot be used. To overcome the complexity of calculation, the present study is focused on developing a Random Forest-based ET0 model to estimate the crop ET for the semi-arid region of northwest India. The RF-based model was developed by focusing on the readily available data at the farm level. For comparative study Hargreaves–Samani model was also modified and used to estimate the ET0. Further, ET0 was also estimated ...
Biosciences and Agriculture Advancement Society (BAAS), 2016
The present study was done to evaluate the effect of Hoagland solution for growing tomato hydropo... more The present study was done to evaluate the effect of Hoagland solution for growing tomato hydroponically in greenhouse. The experiment was carried out in fan pad cooled greenhouse, using substrate with cocopeat, perlite and vermiculite (3:1:1 v/v). A NFT was developed for hydroponically grown tomatoes to supply nutrient solution to plants placed in net pots in PVC pipes. The experiment consists of 3 replications and 3 treatments. Nutrient solution was placed in 100L of tank. There were 9 tanks for the experiment. Three kinds of nutrient solution were used for each replication: 1) Hoagland solution at 100% concentration as treatment 1; 2) Hoagland solution at 75% concentration as treatment 2 and 3) Hoagland solution at 50% concentration as treatment 3. Plant growth, total fruit yield, TSS (total soluble solids) and titrable acidity were higher in Hoagland solution at 100% concentration than the others, but there was no significant difference between the three solutions in terms of diameter of stem, moisture content, firmness and lycopene. The result showed that Hoagland solution at 100% concentration increased the height of plants as well as total fruit production including fruit quality i.e. TSS and titrable acidity. Cost analysis for the hydroponic system was also done.
Field study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Seed Production Farm, Ladh... more Field study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Seed Production Farm, Ladhowal, Punjab, during the rabi season compare the yield, yield contributing characters and quality of onion under different irrigation schedules. The experiment was conducted with five levels of irrigation (1.3 x Epan 1.0 x Epan 0.8 x Epan 0.7 x Epan 0.6 x Epan) along with irrigation practice as followed by farmers. The highest plant height (59.1 cm), number of leaves (13.5) and yield (34.4 t/ha-1) were where irrigation was applied at, 1.0 x Epan closely followed by farmer’s practice. Yield production models suggested that quadratic model was the best fit for production prediction purpose with significant and higher R2 value (0.80). The study also revealed that dry matter and pyruvate content of bulbs reduced significantly at higher levels of irrigation. It was concluded from the study that storage characteristics of onion improved with the reduced quantity of irrigation water.
Water scarcity has become one of the highest risks for environmental and economic security worldw... more Water scarcity has become one of the highest risks for environmental and economic security worldwide. The water footprint for rice production, i.e., the total volume of freshwater consumed to produce a unit quantity rice has been estimated for three different agroclimatic zones of Punjab for the years 2000 to 2017. The results revealed that effective rainfall (Peff) improved in later years due to a change in crop calendar,legally enforced by an Act prohibiting the transplanting of paddy before a specified date. During the period of study, minimum crop evapotranspiration (ET c) was 4645 and maximum was ETc of 9511 m3ha -1 during 2014 and 2011, respectively. The green water footprint (W F green) for rice varied from 646litreskg -1of rice during low rainfall years (2012) to 1149 litre kg -1 of rice during heavy rainfall (1192 mm) during 2011.Out of a total water footprint (WF total) of 2650 litre kg -1, the share of blue water footprint (WFblue) was higher 1804 litre kg -1 (68%), indic...
Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society, 2021
Availability of irrigation water is considered one of the major challenges faced by Egypt during ... more Availability of irrigation water is considered one of the major challenges faced by Egypt during current time and will be more difficult in the future with the limited water resources and linearly increase of population. The current study investigates irrigation demand for sugarcane cultivation areas in the Middle and Upper Egypt Governorates (Menia, Asyut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan) during current time and under RCPs scenarios. The current data was collected from 1971 till 2000. The RCP data were collected for different scenarios (RCP 3, RCP 4.5, RCP 6 and RCP 8.5) during three time series (2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100). The highest evapotranspiration values during current and future conditions was found in Luxor and Aswan governorates; while the lowest evapotranspiration values were recorded in Menia and Asyut. All RCPs scenarios were significantly higher than current conditions. Moreover, the highest irrigation requirements under RCP scenarios were recorded in Aswan and ...
While water is renewable, only a finite amount of it is available. Rapid urbanization, industrial... more While water is renewable, only a finite amount of it is available. Rapid urbanization, industrial development, and growth in food demand contribute to the shortage of freshwater in many countries. The limited availability of surface water and its uneven distribution in time and space has increased the dependence on groundwater (GW) in Punjab. Its irrigation development is characterized by excessive extraction of GW to meet the crop water requirements for ensuring the country’s self-reliance in food. GW development guided by populist political pronouncements has contributed to serious environmental and ecological concerns. The paper, using the GW resource estimation methodology-2015, assesses the net annual replenish able GW availability (21.58 billion cubic meters) and GW extraction (35.78 billion cubic meters), and thus a stage of GW extraction of 166%. It analyses the impact of continuous GW mining on the long-term behaviour of water table. Considering the declining availability o...
Field experiments were conducted during the winter season of 2003 -04 and 2004 -05 to determine t... more Field experiments were conducted during the winter season of 2003 -04 and 2004 -05 to determine the effect of mulch in relation to irrigation and planting method on soil temperature, weed control, baby corn growth, water use and yield. The study revealed that bed planting of baby corn caused 34.9% increase in yield over ridge planting method. Plastic mulch increased baby corn yield by 18.9% and 77.5% over rice straw and unmulched treatment respectively. Baby corn yield at irrigation level of 1.2 ETc proved significantly superior to 1.0 ETc and 0.8 ETc levels. The study further revealed that plastic mulch at irrigation level of 0.8 ETc resulted significant increase in yield by 28.6% over unmulched soil condition even when it was irrigated at 1.2 ETc and resulted 30.6% of water saving. It was interesting that in bed planting method, plastic mulch caused statistically same baby corn yield at all the levels of irrigation with maximum water use efficiency of 40.1 kg/ha-cm at irr...
Our objective was to examine the effect of plastic mulching, three soil matric potentials (SMP) t... more Our objective was to examine the effect of plastic mulching, three soil matric potentials (SMP) treatments {I 1 (-20 kPa), I 2 (-40 kPa), and I 3 (-60 kPa)} and three fertigation levels {F 1 (100%), F 2 (80%), and F 3 (60%) recommended dose of fertilizer} under drip irrigation conditions for nutrient uptake, growth parameters and yield in guava plants. The experiments were set up in factorial randomized block design with eighteen treatment combinations. The experiments were conducted during the year 2012-13. The investigation indicated that the plant canopy spread in (N/S and E/W) directions was greatly affected by different treatments. However, non-significant effects of interaction parameters were found on plant height, crop volume and plant girth. The maximum yield was obtained in MI 2 F 2 (68.66 kg per plant and 22.86 t ha -1 ) followed by NMI 2 F 2 (66.50 kg per plant and 22.14 t ha -1 ) treatments. The maximum percentage of high quality (fruit levels A and B) were 48.2% and ...
Evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical element of the hydrological cycle, and its proper assessmen... more Evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical element of the hydrological cycle, and its proper assessment is essential for irrigation scheduling, agricultural and hydro-meteorological studies, and water budget estimation. It is computed for most applications as a product of reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) and crop coefficient, notably using the well-known two-step method. Accurate predictions of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) using limited meteorological inputs are critical in data-constrained circumstances, and the preferred FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM) equation cannot be used. To overcome the complexity of calculation, the present study is focused on developing a Random Forest-based ET0 model to estimate the crop ET for the semi-arid region of northwest India. The RF-based model was developed by focusing on the readily available data at the farm level. For comparative study Hargreaves–Samani model was also modified and used to estimate the ET0. Further, ET0 was also estimated ...
Biosciences and Agriculture Advancement Society (BAAS), 2016
The present study was done to evaluate the effect of Hoagland solution for growing tomato hydropo... more The present study was done to evaluate the effect of Hoagland solution for growing tomato hydroponically in greenhouse. The experiment was carried out in fan pad cooled greenhouse, using substrate with cocopeat, perlite and vermiculite (3:1:1 v/v). A NFT was developed for hydroponically grown tomatoes to supply nutrient solution to plants placed in net pots in PVC pipes. The experiment consists of 3 replications and 3 treatments. Nutrient solution was placed in 100L of tank. There were 9 tanks for the experiment. Three kinds of nutrient solution were used for each replication: 1) Hoagland solution at 100% concentration as treatment 1; 2) Hoagland solution at 75% concentration as treatment 2 and 3) Hoagland solution at 50% concentration as treatment 3. Plant growth, total fruit yield, TSS (total soluble solids) and titrable acidity were higher in Hoagland solution at 100% concentration than the others, but there was no significant difference between the three solutions in terms of diameter of stem, moisture content, firmness and lycopene. The result showed that Hoagland solution at 100% concentration increased the height of plants as well as total fruit production including fruit quality i.e. TSS and titrable acidity. Cost analysis for the hydroponic system was also done.
Field study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Seed Production Farm, Ladh... more Field study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Seed Production Farm, Ladhowal, Punjab, during the rabi season compare the yield, yield contributing characters and quality of onion under different irrigation schedules. The experiment was conducted with five levels of irrigation (1.3 x Epan 1.0 x Epan 0.8 x Epan 0.7 x Epan 0.6 x Epan) along with irrigation practice as followed by farmers. The highest plant height (59.1 cm), number of leaves (13.5) and yield (34.4 t/ha-1) were where irrigation was applied at, 1.0 x Epan closely followed by farmer’s practice. Yield production models suggested that quadratic model was the best fit for production prediction purpose with significant and higher R2 value (0.80). The study also revealed that dry matter and pyruvate content of bulbs reduced significantly at higher levels of irrigation. It was concluded from the study that storage characteristics of onion improved with the reduced quantity of irrigation water.
Water scarcity has become one of the highest risks for environmental and economic security worldw... more Water scarcity has become one of the highest risks for environmental and economic security worldwide. The water footprint for rice production, i.e., the total volume of freshwater consumed to produce a unit quantity rice has been estimated for three different agroclimatic zones of Punjab for the years 2000 to 2017. The results revealed that effective rainfall (Peff) improved in later years due to a change in crop calendar,legally enforced by an Act prohibiting the transplanting of paddy before a specified date. During the period of study, minimum crop evapotranspiration (ET c) was 4645 and maximum was ETc of 9511 m3ha -1 during 2014 and 2011, respectively. The green water footprint (W F green) for rice varied from 646litreskg -1of rice during low rainfall years (2012) to 1149 litre kg -1 of rice during heavy rainfall (1192 mm) during 2011.Out of a total water footprint (WF total) of 2650 litre kg -1, the share of blue water footprint (WFblue) was higher 1804 litre kg -1 (68%), indic...
Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society, 2021
Availability of irrigation water is considered one of the major challenges faced by Egypt during ... more Availability of irrigation water is considered one of the major challenges faced by Egypt during current time and will be more difficult in the future with the limited water resources and linearly increase of population. The current study investigates irrigation demand for sugarcane cultivation areas in the Middle and Upper Egypt Governorates (Menia, Asyut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan) during current time and under RCPs scenarios. The current data was collected from 1971 till 2000. The RCP data were collected for different scenarios (RCP 3, RCP 4.5, RCP 6 and RCP 8.5) during three time series (2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100). The highest evapotranspiration values during current and future conditions was found in Luxor and Aswan governorates; while the lowest evapotranspiration values were recorded in Menia and Asyut. All RCPs scenarios were significantly higher than current conditions. Moreover, the highest irrigation requirements under RCP scenarios were recorded in Aswan and ...
While water is renewable, only a finite amount of it is available. Rapid urbanization, industrial... more While water is renewable, only a finite amount of it is available. Rapid urbanization, industrial development, and growth in food demand contribute to the shortage of freshwater in many countries. The limited availability of surface water and its uneven distribution in time and space has increased the dependence on groundwater (GW) in Punjab. Its irrigation development is characterized by excessive extraction of GW to meet the crop water requirements for ensuring the country’s self-reliance in food. GW development guided by populist political pronouncements has contributed to serious environmental and ecological concerns. The paper, using the GW resource estimation methodology-2015, assesses the net annual replenish able GW availability (21.58 billion cubic meters) and GW extraction (35.78 billion cubic meters), and thus a stage of GW extraction of 166%. It analyses the impact of continuous GW mining on the long-term behaviour of water table. Considering the declining availability o...
Field experiments were conducted during the winter season of 2003 -04 and 2004 -05 to determine t... more Field experiments were conducted during the winter season of 2003 -04 and 2004 -05 to determine the effect of mulch in relation to irrigation and planting method on soil temperature, weed control, baby corn growth, water use and yield. The study revealed that bed planting of baby corn caused 34.9% increase in yield over ridge planting method. Plastic mulch increased baby corn yield by 18.9% and 77.5% over rice straw and unmulched treatment respectively. Baby corn yield at irrigation level of 1.2 ETc proved significantly superior to 1.0 ETc and 0.8 ETc levels. The study further revealed that plastic mulch at irrigation level of 0.8 ETc resulted significant increase in yield by 28.6% over unmulched soil condition even when it was irrigated at 1.2 ETc and resulted 30.6% of water saving. It was interesting that in bed planting method, plastic mulch caused statistically same baby corn yield at all the levels of irrigation with maximum water use efficiency of 40.1 kg/ha-cm at irr...
Our objective was to examine the effect of plastic mulching, three soil matric potentials (SMP) t... more Our objective was to examine the effect of plastic mulching, three soil matric potentials (SMP) treatments {I 1 (-20 kPa), I 2 (-40 kPa), and I 3 (-60 kPa)} and three fertigation levels {F 1 (100%), F 2 (80%), and F 3 (60%) recommended dose of fertilizer} under drip irrigation conditions for nutrient uptake, growth parameters and yield in guava plants. The experiments were set up in factorial randomized block design with eighteen treatment combinations. The experiments were conducted during the year 2012-13. The investigation indicated that the plant canopy spread in (N/S and E/W) directions was greatly affected by different treatments. However, non-significant effects of interaction parameters were found on plant height, crop volume and plant girth. The maximum yield was obtained in MI 2 F 2 (68.66 kg per plant and 22.86 t ha -1 ) followed by NMI 2 F 2 (66.50 kg per plant and 22.14 t ha -1 ) treatments. The maximum percentage of high quality (fruit levels A and B) were 48.2% and ...
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