Water and Agricultural Sustainability Strategies

by Kang; Manjit S

• ISBN13: 9780415572194
• ISBN10: 0415572193
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-03-25
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

While enhancing water-use efficiency (WUE) is a major goal in irrigated agriculture, drought management is the principal strategy to enhance production from rainfed agriculture. Management, conservation, and recycling are crucial to sustainable use of water resources in both irrigated and rainfed agriculture. The challenge of enhancing WUE is moreover confounded by the severe problem of water quality either because of high concentration of naturally occurring salts in the aquifer or due to pollution and contamination by urban, industrial, and other anthropogenic activities.This book covers the following aspects related to water management: 1. Use of water management strategies to achieve agricultural sustainability under the current scenario of water scarcity; 2. Use of the four kinds of natural waters, i.e., rainwater, surface water, groundwater, and soil moisture (soil water) as well as irrigation drain water, municipal and industrial wastewater, to promote agricultural sustainability. How irrigation with groundwater polluted with arsenic and industrial water could lead to toxicity in crops, and how to avoid/prevent/phytoremediate this; 3. Water management in different agroclimatic environments, with particular reference to dryland/rainfed agriculture; 4. Biotechnological applications to develop crop varieties and agronomic practices that endow crops with drought tolerance and greater water-use efficiency.Intended for agricultural scientists, as well as graduate students in agronomy, soil science, agricultural engineering, and plant breeding/genetics/biotechnology.

Table of Contents

Contributors	p. vii
Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
About the editor	p. xix
Water and agricultural sustainability challenges
Sustainable water systems for agriculture and 21st century challenges	p. 3
Challenges in securing India's water future	p. 21
Sustainable water management strategies
Soil water management in India	p. 29
Conserving and optimizing limited water for crop production	p. 43
On watershed management	p. 57
Water management in northern states and the food security of India	p. 71
Sustainable soil management strategies
Sustainable management of Vertisols in central India	p. 93
Sustainable management of dryland Alfisols (red soils) in South India	p. 109
Soil and water quality management
Soil and water quality: Integral components of watershed management	p. 133
Water pollution related to agricultural, industrial, and urban activities, and its effects on the food chain: Case studies from Punjab	p. 143
Soil and water management in dryland or rainfed agriculture
Manipulating tillage to increase stored soil water and manipulating plant geometry to increase water-use efficiency in dryland areas	p. 169
Integrated watershed management for increasing productivity and water-use efficiency in semi-arid tropical India	p. 181
Strategies for improving the productivity of rainfed farms in India with special emphasis on soil quality improvement	p. 207
Biotechnological and agronomic strategies
Biotechnology and drought tolerance	p. 229
Transgenic strategies for improved drought tolerance in legumes of semi-arid tropics	p. 261
Viable alternatives to the rice-wheat cropping system in Punjab	p. 279
Weed management in aerobic rice in northwestern Indo-Gangetic plains	p. 297
Subject index	p. 313
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