The researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (IITM Pune) have developed a Smart Irrigation Plan to save 10-30% of irrigation water in drought-prone areas, combining climate forecasts, satellite tv for pc soil moisture information, and a pc simulation for environment friendly irrigation water administration.
Researchers from the Department of Civil Engineering and Centre for Climate Studies on the IIT Bombay and the IITM Pune formulated a way to foretell the quantity of irrigation water wanted as much as three weeks, on a district and sub-district scale.
The researchers acknowledged that the farmers in a drought-prone space require a plan for irrigation as rains are unpredictable, they usually can’t waste the diminishing groundwater. So, if farmers know beforehand how a lot water they’ll obtain by rainfall in the approaching weeks, they “can plan their irrigation wisely”, serving to “crop growth” and “conserving groundwater”.
The pilot research was performed in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, the place researchers discovered that a couple of grape farmers used native soil moisture sensors. Thereafter, the research prolonged its methodology in 12 sub-districts of West Bengal’s Bankura, a drought-prone district.
“During our pilot study in Nashik, we included local weather forecasts in the soil moisture data and showed farmers that groundwater can be conserved up to 30 %. We initially predicted up to one week (short-range) ahead,” shares Professor Subimal Ghosh, from IIT Bombay.
Professor Ghosh defined that throughout the execution of methodology in Bankura, they thought-about crop varieties, assorted progress patterns, root zone depth, and water necessities.
According to researchers, they fed climate forecast and soil moisture information into a pc mannequin that checks the doable quantity of rain, the water capability of the soil, and the water necessities of every crop. On the premise of these particulars, the system supplies info on the crop’s water requirement. If the mannequin predicts no rainfall in the approaching days, it would counsel irrigating crops now. In case of rainfall arrival predictions, keep away from irrigation of crops. This strategy prevents overwatering the crops and saves water.
The researchers highlighted that they used international soil maps and built-in satellite tv for pc and discipline information to incorporate soil moisture information akin to root zone depth, soil texture, porosity, water-holding capability, water conductivity, and stomatal closure.
The information on water consumption, month-to-month rainfall, root depth, and irrigation water requirement information from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) useful resource was sourced from the IMD database and IITM Pune.
“Our computer model depicts the natural process by which plants draw water from the soil, their adaptation during a water stress, and their response during a water balance after irrigation or rainfall,” says Prof Ghosh, claiming the research methodology acts as a real-time advisor for water administration.
The research was funded by the Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal, DST-Swarnajayanti Fellowship Scheme, and others.
