Journal of FARM SCIENCES, Vol 20, No 2 (2007)

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Hydrological Response of Surface Configurations Under Simulated Conditions Using CRIDA Rainfall Simulator

Ch. Vasudeva Reddy, U. Satish Kumar, P.K. Mishra, S.S. Kumathe

Abstract


 The simulator designed, developed at Center for Research for Rain fed Agriculture ( CRIDA), Hyderabad used to evaluate parameters viz. runoff volume in per cent of rainfall volume ( litres ), and sediment yield ( gm) simulating rainfall with two levels of intensities under semi-arid agro-climatic conditions. Three furrow spacing practiced for many crops of the region namely 90, 60 and 30 cm c/c oriented both along and across the governing slope ( 3 per cent) on sandy loam soil ( 64.28 % sand) were tested for their vulnerability to runoff production and extent of conservation in terms of above parameters as compared to bare plot conditions. The results have shown that 60 cm c/c spacing can escalate 6.177 per cent when laid along the slope and conserves 6.97 per cent when laid across the governing slope under 80 mm / hr intensity as compared to bare plot. With increase in intensity to 100 mm / hr, on an average, runoff volume increased by about 3.06 per cent and decreased by 2.70 per cent when laid across the slope. The bare plot of sandy loam soil under rainfall intensity of 80 mm / hr found to yield a sediment load of 50.72 Kg / ha / mm of rainfall. For 60 cm spacing, sediment yield escalated by 16.56 per cent when oriented along the slope and at the same time conserved 19.92 per when laid across slope for 80 mm / hr intensity. With 100 mm /hr intensity, it eroded 11.29 per cent more and conserved 4.61 per cent sediment yield as compared to 80 mm / hr intensity.

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