Vol. 10, Special Issue 4 (2021)

Author(s):
Dinesh Kumar, Dalip Kumar Bishnoi, Vinod Kumar, Ashok Godara and Ajay Singh

Abstract:
The study has evaluated impact of Laser land levelling technology (LLL) in conserving water, reducing effective irrigation hours and increasing water productivity in paddy-wheat and cotton-wheat belt of Haryana. Study highlighted that number of irrigations, average time per irrigation and total irrigation time per crop were significantly reduced due to adoption of laser land levelling over conventional land levelling. However, the effect was more prominent in paddy-wheat belt of Karnal than cotton-wheat belt of Sirsa. Main reason behind this finding was that paddy being more water thirsty crop and require waterlogged condition so it was impacted most by the technology. In paddy-wheat cropping system of karnal 5.32 and 62.67 hours per hectare were saved per irrigation and per season respectively similarly, in cotton-wheat cropping system of Sirsa 3.88 and 22.93 hours were saved per irrigation and per season respectively. Water productivity enhanced by LLL was 0.14 and 0.47 kg/cu.m in cotton and wheat respectively in Sirsa while 0.31 and 0.68 kg/cu.m in Paddy and Wheat in Karnal respectively. Therefore, on the basis of findings of the study it was strongly recommended to adopt this climate smart and resource conservation technology in order to cope up with rising demands of water pausing a serious threat on the survival of life.