Datia
Background
Central Soil & Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Research Centre Datia (MP) came into existence on 18th September 1986 under aegis of CS&WCR&TI, Dehradun (UK) under ICAR, an autonomous body of Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, to carry out research and develop technologies for sustained production and natural resource management / conservation on arable and non arable lands of Bundelkhand region.
Research centre Datia is working within the mandate of the institute. Its major objective is to conduct research and develop the technologies for tackling the water scarcity and land degradation problems of the region and to demonstrate them on farmer’s fields on watershed basis for increasing the production and productivity in Bundelkhand region.
In this context centre is taking up research, extension and capacity building activities for conserving water and soil, mitigating land degradation and increasing production and productivity of arable and non-arable lands in the Bundelkhand region within broad approaches and framework of the Central Soil and water conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun.
Mandate
- Appraisal of erosion problems and conservation of land and water resources under different land use systems.
- Evaluation of hydrological behavior and management of watershed for reducing sediment discharge and improving water regime.
- Evaluation and identification of suitable plant material for different land uses according to land capability.
- Development of suitable technology for increasing production from eroded and degraded lands of Bundelkhand.
- Development of techniques for rainfed farming and efficient water management practices.
- Demonstration of practices in soil and water conservation for improving production on cultivator’s land.
SCIENTISTS
Infrastructure
Soil Laboratory
Centre’s Soil laboratory is well equipped with sophisticated equipments, such as pH meter, Conductivity Bridge, Auto N Kjeldhal apparatus, UV spectrophotometer, flame photometer, pressure membrane plate apparatus TDR electronic soil moisture meter, leaf area meter Yoder’s apparatus, soil and water testing kits etc to cater the needs of quality soil and water analysis for research purpose and training.
Hydrology and cartography laboratory
It is well equipped with stage level recorders, rain gauges, current meters, digital planimeter, infiltrometer and latest survey equipments such as electronic total station, hand held GPS etc.
Computer and Communication Cell
The centre is equipped with 11 computers provided with internet connectivity.
It is also equipped with advanced softwares such as Arc GIS 9.1 work station, SURFER and SPSS statistical tools to cater the various needs of research and training in the field of soil and water conservation and watershed management.
Library
The Centre has library to cater the research and training needs particularly on soil and water conservation.
It is equipped with over 850 books on various disciplines such as engineering, soil science, agronomy, horticulture forestry, social sciences, finance and administration.
Research
Contour bunds of 0.55 m2 cross section at 0.70 m VI found most effective in conserving more than 75% of the runoff then 0.9 VI thus suitable for red soils of Bundelkhand region.- Based on 5000 points grid (10x10 km) data on USLE parameters, soil loss values have been worked out for Madhya Pradesh. The analysis revealed that about 48% of the area suffers from very slight to slight erosion (< 10 t ha-1yr-1), about 19% under moderate erosion (10-15 t ha-1yr-1), and 40% area under severe erosion (20-40 t ha -1 yr-1) in the state.
Centre’s Experience on rainwater harvesting and recycling in red soils through farm pond suggested that it is possible to provide supplemental irrigation through harvested water to long duration kharif crops at critical stages as well as for pre-sowing irrigation to rabi crops. A 2.0 m deep farm pond of dimensions 80 m X 40 m at the top and 72 m X 32 m at the bottom (2:1 side slope) is sufficient for storing 0.5 ha-m water.
To minimize the risk of crop failure under rain-fed conditions of red soils, supplemental irrigation from harvested rain water through a farm pond proved a boon for farmers of the region. Supplemental irrigation from harvested water provided to soybean at the pod filling stage, pre-sowing irrigation for mustard and toria at 30 DAS increased the yield of soybean by 40 %, mustard by 130 % and toria by 180% .
Intercropping of Soybean + Castor in red soils and Soybean + sesame in black soils found more beneficial than sole cropping of soybean in terms of yield and remuneration. Further deep tillage gave 56 % and 86% higher soybean equivalent yield in red and black soils respectively over conventional tillage.- Contour furrows have been found effective in reduction of runoff on non-arable lands. Reduction in runoff yield of the tune of 35% was recorded when contour furrows were employed in a watershed under grass land use at the research farm then control.
- Deep tillage (20 cm) with in-situ surface mulching in the interspaces of sorghum in the red soils increased the grain yield of sorghum by 1.6 times over traditional tillage and reduced runoff and soil loss to the tune of 7.2% and 17.0 % respectively. Soil depth is one of the major edaphic limitations on red uplands. Green manuring of sunhemp done in shallow (30 cm) and medium (60 cm) deep red soils increased the yield of irrigated wheat by 39% and 40 % respectively.
Soil loss tolerance limits have been computed for different physiographic regions of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The T values varied form 2.5 to 12.5 Mg ha-1 yr-1, indicating varying degree of soil heterogeneity with respect to infiltration, texture, organic matter content, fertility and soil depth etc. In Eastern part of the region soils are better placed in respect of the soil loss tolerance thresholds, with values ranging from 5.0 to 12.5 Mg ha-1 yr-1 or even 7.5 to 10.0 Mg ha-1 yr-1. The soil loss tolerance values of majority of the soils of Central highland and Pathar and Bundelkhand upland have been ranged from 7.5 to 10.0 Mg ha-1 yr-1.- Rain water harvesting through created catchments (10, 15, 20 and 50m2), pruning intensities (0, 20, 40 and 60%) and surface mulching with locally available Butea monosperma and grass, studied on rejuvenated ber plants suggested that a catchment of 15m2 or more was most appropriate for in-situ moisture conservation in such ber orchards as evidenced by higher stem diameter below bud union and canopy.
INM involving vermi-compost @ 1 t/ha prior to sowing of kharif crop in green gram-mustard sequence with Aonla based agro-horti system found to be most effective in improving soil health and gave B:C ratio of 3.73:1. Thus considering the scope of vermi composting in the region owing to higher cattle population and uneven climatic features the technology may go a long way in maintenance of organic carbon of such poor soils as well as sustaining yields and profitability during aberrant climatic situations in red soils of the region.
Training
One Lecture Hall of 60-70 seating capacity and one round table conference room for group meeting of about 15-20 persons equipped with LCD Projector, public address system, multi functional photo copier is available at the centre supported by 30 KVA generators. This facility is also made available to government and public institutions on payment at their demand as per norms. The Centre has one A/C guest room with two beds and a farmers’ hostel to accommodate 20 trainees.
Research Farm
The centre’s research farm is spread over in nearly 189 ha which truly represents the soils and typical features of the Bundelkhand region. About half of the farm area is covered by red soils. While Red soils are shallow, less water retentive and fail to support crop on residual soil moisture, the black soils, on the other hand, are poorly drained, becomes too hard when dry and too sticky when wet thus pose workability problems. According to soil taxonomy dominant soils have been grouped under order Entisol, Inceptisol and to some extent Vertisol. Based on the LCC criteria about 56.1% farm land comes under classes I to IV and 43.9% under class VI to VIII. A broad scientific land use plan of the research farm has been prepared for experimentation in arable and non arable lands. Sorghum, green gram, black gram, soybean, mustard, wheat are the important crops at the farm. Besides naturally grown Butea monosperma, and Ziziphus numelaria the major forest species includes Anogesis pendula, Dalbergia sissoo, Azadirachta indica, and Tectona grandis.
Agro-Meteorological Observatory
In view of the importance of precise meteorological data required for planning of various soil and water conservation measures, a Class-A observatory is working at the farm since 1987. The observatory confirms to the standards of IMD, Pune and equipped with standard rain gauges, pan-evaporimeter, dry/wet bulb thermometer, maximum/minimum thermometer, sunshine recorder, wind vane, anemometer and soil thermometers. Monthly agro-meteorological data recorded at the centre are reported to IMD, Pune and also published in Institute’s annual report.
SMS and Runoff Plots
A set of 8 standard size plots (22.13 x 1.83m) exist in the farm fitted with multi slot divisors and collection tanks. Field size runoff plots (5) of size 80 x 20m with Stage level recorders and sharp crested weir exist in the farm on 3% slope. Another set of 27 runoff plots with Ramser’s sampler and portable tanks were also constructed on 2% slope in red soil during 1995. A number of seven micro watersheds ranging from 1- 3 ha having defined land use fitted with gauging device of weir and stage level recorders exist at the farm and gauged for runoff and soil loss from different system. Recently, three more SMS to gauge micro-catchments in watershed area and 20 field size runoff plots with multi slots have also been established at the farm.
Collaboration
Linkages, Collaboration and Consultancies
Centre has developed linkages and collaborations with other departments, Ministries through various projects,
| Projects/ Programmes | Collaboration Department |
|---|---|
| NAIP: Improvement in livelihood security of rural people living in disadvantaged districts of Uttar Pradesh through diversification in Agriculture | Consortia partner to Chandrasekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology Kanpur (UP), State Institute of Rural Development, Lucknow (UP) and SMARP, Kanpur. |
| NAIP: Goat husbandry based integrated approach for livelihood security in disadvantaged districts of Bundelkhand Region. | Consortia partner to Central Institute for Research on Goats Makhdum, Mathura (UP) and National Research Centre for Agro-Forestry , Jhansi (UP). |
| Macro Management of Agriculture: NWDPRA. | Ministry of Agriculture, Govt of India. |
| Farmer’s Participatory action Research Programme. | Ministry of Water Resource, Govt of India. |
| Integrated wasteland development Project. | IWDP Ministry of Rural development, Govt of India. |