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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The quality of land development/ levelling is having enormous impact on soil moisture storage and distribution in the field both spatially and temporally, crop growth, yields and irrigation water saving. So, unevenness of agricultural fields leads to the in-efficient use of irrigation water, which in turn reduces the yield and farm income. The quality and accuracy of land levelling determined by term “Levelling index” (LI) are dynamic factors. Consequently, it is imperative to study the impact of levelling indices on soil moisture distribution in fields. A field experiment was conducted in the research farms of Irrigation Water Management Research Center (IWMRC), Belvatagi, University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) Dharwad during Rabi 2018 to assess influence of quality of land levelling on soil moisture variability in safflower fields. The results indicated spatial variability with respect to levelling indices and soil moisture in the same fields with average LI ranging from 1.37 cm to 2.28 cm and average soil moisture ranging from 32.26 % to 35.94 %. Also, it was found that the soil moisture variability was evident (standard deviation of soil moisture varying from 3.31 to 9.59%) with respect to the quality of land levelling irrespective of the safflower varieties. Hence, better quality of land levelling reduces soil moisture distribution variability to increase irrigation efficiency.