Irrigation water is many a time contaminated with physical, chemical and biological impurities. Proper filtration is of paramount importance to prevent clogging in drip irrigation system thereby aiding in reduced maintenance of the micro irrigation system. This study was conducted on Development and Evaluation of Low cost filters in the Network project on “Engineering Interventions in Micro Irrigation Systems (MIS) for improving water productivity” under Consortia Research Platform on Farm Mechanization and Precision Farming during 2018 to 2020. The objectives of the study are to develop low cost filters and to test the developed system in the field for efficiency in terms of pressure drop throughout discharge and quality of output. It was observed that the discharge from the filter increases as the time increases. Pressure drop and head loss in the filter system increases with flow rate. Filtration efficiency is a percentage of sand particles divided by the TSS removed by the filter. Efficiency of the filter increased from 25% to 64% (double chamber filter) and 23% to 62% (single chamber filter) with flow range of 5 m3/h to 30 m3/h. As flow rate increases, soil particles retained and efficiency of the filter increased with increase in head loss. Filter materials and screen filter removed the sand particles effectively. Uniformity coefficient of 0.95 was observed in single chamber filter which is suitable for small farm application.
Resource conservation in rainfed areas is mainly focused on in-situ rain water harvesting through different agronomic adoption practices. Soil conditioning with the addition of organic and inorganic substances will be an alternative to overcome the problems faced with land configuration measures. It modifies the physico-chemical properties of the soil and acts as a drought resilient mechanism during dry spells. The organic (coir pith and press mud) and inorganic (hydrogel and gypsum) soil conditioners are used to study the soil moisture variations in drylands. The addition of soil conditioners influenced the soil infiltration rate. Hydrogel (2 kg ha-1) ranked highest in storing the moisture compared with other conditioners like gypsum, hydrogel (1 kg ha-1), coir pith and press mud.
Soil moisture is a significant hydrological component that is dynamic in nature. The variation in soil moisture in the basin scale would affect the vegetation, ecology and environment. Soil moisture trend analysis aids in providing the variation of soil moisture over the basin. The present study aimed to analyse the soil moisture trend in Lower Bhavani basin, Tamil Nadu from 2003-2022. Satellite-based soil moisture Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data was extracted from the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to analyse the variation and trend over the period of time. The highest and lowest soil moisture was observed during monsoon and summer months and its percentage variation was studied. Using Man-Kendall test and Sen’s slope, trend analysis was calculated for two decades (2003-2012 and 2013-2022). In 2003-2012, an increasing trend of soil moisture was observed during winter (October to February); from 2013-2022, an increasing trend was observed during both winter (October to February) and monsoon seasons (June to September). The remaining season did not follow any trend, and there was no decreasing trend in soil moisture. The trend analysis of the study will help to monitor and manage the environmental system across the Lower Bhavani basin.
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