Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana Project on “Irrigation Water Requirement Advisory Service (IWRAS)” is being implemented in Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri since February 2015. Main objectives of this project are to provide advisory service to the farmers, scientists, researchers, agriculture officers and KVK subject matter specialists on irrigation water requirement in different farms.
Irrigated agriculture consumes nearly 80% of the world's developed water resources. This
demand is rising day by day, which brought new challenges to the planners, managers of water
resource systems and farmers. In India, nearly 83 % of developed water resources are being
utilized for agriculture. Agriculture has been the primary source of livelihood for 75% of the
population of India. Therefore, the provision of assured water supply to the agriculture is the
topmost priority of the water resources programmes of the country. In India, about 36% of the
total cultivable area is irrigated and remaining 64% is rainfed. In Maharashtra only 19-20% of
the total cultivable area is irrigated. As the productivity of irrigated agriculture is 2 to 3 times
higher than rainfed agriculture, it is important that more area is brought under irrigation to meet
the food demands of the rising population. This is possible either by the development of
additional water resources or efficient management of the available water resources under
existing scenarios. The development of additional water resources has limitations due to
technical and financial reasons; and environmental and social concerns. Therefore in current
scenario, the efficient use of available water resources for irrigation need to be focused. There
are several options for efficient use of water for irrigation; which are complementary to each
other, one such is appropriate irrigation scheduling; for which determination of exact crop water
requirement is important that could lead towards minimizing water losses and improving and
improving yield of crops.
The irrigation water requirement of crop depends on crop and its growth stages, soils, climate
and efficiency of the irrigation system. The irrigation water requirement of different crop is
different and for a specific crop it varies over the growth season. The irrigation water
requirement for the same crop is different for different regions of the state because of variability
in the meteorological parameters. The basic information that is required for estimating the
irrigation water requirement of the crops is the potential evapotranspiration that is generated by
the climatological parameters (such as temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, wind speed and
rainfall) and the crop coefficients that characterize there crop response to water requirement over
its growth season. The climatological parameter estimates the evapotranspiration of the reference
crop i.e. ETr and when coupled with crop coefficient values determines the evapotranspiration of
the specific crop which in turn enables to estimate the irrigation water requirement of the
specified crop.
Currently though the methods and techniques are available for estimating the exact water
requirement of different crops, the farmers are not provided with the information of water
requirement of his/her farm in real time. This is due to different water requirement in different
regions of the state for the same crop and soil conditions because of variability in the
meteorological parameters that govern the water requirement; coupled with non availability of
the service to provide crop-soil –weather specific crop water requirement. Though farmers can
set up the equipments required for estimating the water requirement such as pan evaporimeter at
their farms with extra cost, they need to be trained for computation of the water requirement
from the pan evaporation data. But some farmers may not afford for this extra cost while others
may not realize the importance of this additional utility and tend to avoid setting up such facility
even though properly advised and provided with subsidy. However considering the importance
of applying water according to the requirement of different crops in water scarcity situation in
particular and water management and irrigation scheduling in general, the set up of the service at
Government level to generate and disseminate such information for farmers would be certainly
helpful as this will lead to using precious water efficiently.
Therefore, it is also necessary to generate the crop specific information i.e. crop coefficients that
are required along with the climatological parameters to estimate the irrigation water requirement
for different crops. These values once determined are useful for the estimation of irrigation water
requirement whenever the values of climatological parameters are known. The crop coefficient
values for the field crops including vegetable crops can be determined by lysimetric studies
coupled with measurement of vegetation indices and that for orchards by measuring shaded area,
leaf area and vegetation indices.
Therefore this particular project RKVY-IWRAS has been implemented with the following specific
objectives.
a) To estimate the values of crop coefficients of important field crops over their growth period for the estimation of water requirement of these crops in the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri.
b) To estimate the values of crop coefficients of important orchard crops over their growth period for the estimation of water requirement of these orchard crops in the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri.
c) To develop the computer software and mobile app for estimating the irrigation water requirement and irrigation scheduling based on the climatological data obtained from AWS, crop coefficients and information provided by the farmers
d) To prepare and publish the reference crop evapotranspiration and irrigation water requirement tables and maps for different crops on weekly basis for different regions using the historical weather data procured from the IMD.
e) To make preparedness for using the AWS network of MAHAWEDH when it is commissioned for disseminating the reference crop evapotranspiration, water requirement and irrigation scheduling information to farmers for their farms through web site, email and SMS service on daily basis or at desired time interval in real time (after completion of this project) by:
• preparing the website that allows farmers directly (or through the Department of Agriculture) to input the data required for the estimation of irrigation water requirement and schedule for example, crop details, area, soil type and other properties, water resources, irrigation system details, village name etc. with the help of the developed software.
• Developing the methodology to use the proposed network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) to be established by the Commissionairate of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra (MAHAWEDH).
The RKVY-IWRAS project produced several outputs in the form of scientific recommendations approved by the joint committee of all four agricultural universities in Maharashtra in joint agresco and technologies for farmers since its inception as outlined below.
1. Estimation of weekly reference evapotranspiration for irrigation scheduling over the Western Maharashtra.
2. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in Sugarcane for the Western Maharashtra.
3. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in wheat crop for the Western Maharashtra.
4. Development of mobile application “Phule Jal” for estimation of reference evapotranspiration.
5. Development of “Phule Irrigation Scheduler” software for scheduling of irrigation by surface, sprinkler and drip methods of irrigation.
6. Development of mobile application “Phule Irrigation Scheduler” for scheduling of irrigation by surface, sprinkler and drip methods of irrigation
7. Development of web based application, “Phule Jal” for estimation of reference evapotranspiration.
8. Development of web based application, “Phule Irrigation Scheduler” for scheduling of irrigation by surface, sprinkler and drip methods of irrigation.
9. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in gram for the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
10. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in Rabi onion for the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
11. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in Rabi sorghum for the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
12. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in soybean for the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
13. Development of web and android based application for weather data input and retrieval system (WDIRS) for meteorological parameter
14. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling in Safflower, Sweet corn, Cotton and Tomato crops for the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
15. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling for Potato and Chilli within the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
16. Deficit irrigation for rabi potato production under semi-arid conditions
17. Development of crop coefficient for rabi potato under semi-arid conditions
18. Development of yield response factor for rabi potato under semi-arid conditions
19. Deficit irrigation for sugarcane under semi-arid conditions
20. Development of crop coefficient for sugarcane under semi-arid conditions
21. Estimation of weekly crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for effective irrigation scheduling of Cabbage and Green pea within the jurisdiction of MPKV, Rahuri
22. Development of yield response factors for suru sugarcane under semi-arid condition
23. Deficit irrigation for tomato production under semi-arid condition
24. Development of crop coefficient for tomato under semi-arid condition
25. Development of yield response factors for tomato under semi-arid condition
26. Deficit irrigation for cotton (Bt) production under semi-arid condition
27. Development of crop coefficient for cotton (Bt) under semi-arid condition
28. Development of yield response factors for cotton (Bt) under semi-arid condition
29. Deficit irrigation for wheat production under semi-arid condition
30. Development of crop coefficient for wheat under semi-arid condition
31. Development of yield response factors for wheat under semi-arid condition.
1. Phule Jal (PJ)
2. Phule Irrigation Scheduler (PIS)
3. Modified Phule Irrigation Scheduler ( MOD PIS)
4. Weather Data Input Retrieval System(WDIRS)
5. Phule Fertigation Scheduler (PFS)
Rabi Onion, Suru Sugarcane, Potato, Tomato, Cotton (Bt), Soybean, Wheat, Gram, Safflower, Sweet corn, Kharif Sorghum, Rabi Sorghum, Soybean, cauliflower, garlic, watermelon and cucumber
Suru Sugarcane, Potato, Tomato, Cotton (Bt), Wheatand Rabi Onion.
Sugarcane, Wheat, Rabi Chickpea, Rabi Sorghum, Rabi Onion, Soybean, Safflower, Sweet corn, Cotton, Tomato, Potato, Chili, Green Pea, Cabbage, Groundnut, Brinjal