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ThesisItem Open Access Structural Stability Analysis of Naturally Ventilated Polyhouses(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Lovepreet Singh; Kaushal, ArunThe research work on structural stability analysis of naturally ventilated polyhouses was carried out at Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. There were total 12 treatments which were combination of four different sizes of polyhouses i.e. 560 m2 (T1-T3); 1008 m2 (T4-T6); 2080 m2 (T7-T9); 4000 m2 (T10-T12), with three design wind speeds 100 km/hr, 150 km/hr and 200 km/hr respectively. Truss members, columns and foundation stability analysis was carried out by considering dead loads, live loads and wind loads. Support reactions were computed on truss and column joints. Member forces were computed by using force method. The economic analysis was carried out by computing benefit cost (B/C) ratio and payback period for raising capsicum under stable structures. For every 17 set of truss members four members (two in compression (small arc) and two in tension (truss bracings)) failed in treatments with 150 and 200 km/hr wind speed while two members (in compression, (small arc)) failed in treatments with 100 km/hr wind speed. Minimum structural GI pipe material requirement for structurally stable polyhouses was under treatment T1 (2407 kg) and maximum under treatment T12 (19550 kg). The maximum benefit cost ratio was obtained in treatment T10 (1.77, 2.33) and minimum was in treatment T3 (1.36, 1.84) with no and 50% Government subsidy, respectively. The minimum payback period was obtained in treatment T10 (3.29 years, 1.26 years) and maximum in T3 (7.54 years, 2.19 years) with no and 50% subsidy, respectively. For the structurally stable naturally ventilated polyhouses as the size increases the benefit cost ratio increases, while the payback period decreases and for wind speed it is vice-versa.ThesisItem Open Access Soil Moisture Sensor System Development and evaluation for irrigation scheduling in subsurface drip irrigated Sugarcane(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Raheja, Amina; Garg, SunilA study was conducted in Punjab Agricultural University on Soil Moisture Sensor System Development and evaluation for irrigation scheduling in subsurface drip irrigated Sugarcane. The sugarcane crop was sown for two consecutive years as plant (2019-20) and ratoon crop(2020-21). The irrigation to sugarcane crop was given by sub surface drip irrigation installed at three different depths-20 cm, 25 cm, and 30 cm depth. Water application was based on evapotranspiration of crop (ETc) for first year and sensor-based irrigation for ratoon crop. The low-cost capacitive sensor system with four moisture sensing probes was developed, calibrated, and tested both in laboratory and field to measure the sensor-to-sensor variability due to the placement of sensors in soil at different depths. The exponential calibration curve and two-point model was compared for developed low-cost sensor system and found to be accurate and precise. (Mean Absolute Error, Root Mean Square Error, and Relative Absolute Error of 1.56%, 0.36, and 0.65 respectively). The field calibrated soil sensing system was compared with a commercial SM150T sensor for measuring VMC in a sugarcane field. The sensor position in root zone plays a significant role in irrigation scheduling. Therefore, HYDUS 2D model was used for calibration, validation, and simulation of moisture movement in the root zone. It was found that the sensor could be installed within 10 cm periphery of the emitter irrespective of the drip depth. The developed sensor system was installed in the sugarcane for irrigation scheduling. The water requirement of sensorbased irrigation was at par with the irrigation based on ETc. The sugarcane yield was 8% and 10% more in drip depth of 25 and 30 cm respectively as compared to 20 cm drip depth. Water deficit up to 10% produced sugarcane yield like ET based irrigation for plant crop. However, water deficit beyond 10% significantly reduced the sugarcane yield both in plant and ratoon crop. Hence, the low-cost capacitive soil moisture sensor system consistently worked very well for the entire period of field testing with no practical issues, so can be used in atomization of the irrigation system.ThesisItem Open Access Optimizing Lateral Depth and Spacing for Subsurface Drip Irrigated Rice-Wheat Cropping System under Conservation Agriculture Through Simulation of Water and Nitrate Movement(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Bajpai, Arpna; Kaushal, ArunThe research study was conducted at Borlaug Institute for South Asia, Ludhiana and Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, Punjab to optimize lateral depth and spacing for subsurface drip irrigated rice-wheat cropping system under conservation agriculture through simulation of water and nitrate movement during 2017-20. Experiments were laid out in randomized block design with eight treatments, (six drip irrigated (T1-T6), which were combination of lateral spacing X emitter spacing X dripline buried depth) and two control treatments (T7-T8) with three replication i.e. T1 (67.5 X 30 X 0 cm), T2 (45 X 40 X 0 cm), T3 (67.5 X 30 X 15 cm), T4 (45 X 40 X 15 cm), T5 (67.5 X 30 X 20 cm), T6 (45 X 40 X 20 cm), T7 (conventional flood irrigation method) and T8 (flood irrigation method with conservation agriculture). Grain yield and water productivity were maximum in treatment T4 (Wheat, 6.513 t/ha, 3.832 kg/m3 and Rice, 8.178 t/ha, 1.203 kg/m3 ) and minimum in T7 (Wheat, 5.620 t/ha, 1.406 kg/m3 and Rice, 7.410 t/ha, 0.492 kg/m3 ). Statistically T4 treatment was significantly at par with T6 treatment and higher than all other treatments for both rice and wheat crops. Most uniform soil moisture and nitrate movement were observed under T4. HYDRUS-2D model showed successful performance with Nash-sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient of 0.885 and coefficient of determination as 0.906. Economic analysis showed that treatment T4 (B:C-3.286) was economically viable and significantly higher than treatment T7 (B:C-3.157) only with 95% of drip irrigation subsidy.ThesisItem Embargo Assessment of land use/land cover of Ludhiana district(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Dhiman, Prince; Biwalkar, NileshLand use/land cover (LULC) variations of the Ludhiana district were found using Landsat imageries of 2001, 2009, 2015, 2020, and 2022, studied in the cloud-based Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The Landsat imagery was filtered based on selected time period, study area and cloud cover less than 10 percent. NDVI, NDBI, MNDWI, and BSI indices along with slope and elevation layers from DEM were also generated and stacked into a composite imagery. Training and validation datasets were generated for each class (built-up, vegetation, bare soil, and water) for various periods by adding the ground control points (GCP) to the satellite imagery. LULC classification was done using a random forest classifier in GEE to get temporal LULC maps for the study area. By generating a confusion matrix for each of the classified imagery, validation was done. Field verification was done for the classified 2022 scenario. Land cover area change analysis was calculated for 2001, 2009, 2015, 2020, and 2022 in QGIS software. Prepared classified images were used to predict the future land use/land cover in the MOLUSCE plugin. Spatial variables like distance from the road, distance from waterways, slope, and elevation maps were also used for the prediction. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used for modeling and training purposes. The simulated map was prepared based on iteration/s and the model was validated, which showed excellent results. The predicted map of 2033 revealed that the built-up area in the Ludhiana sdistrict is increasing while the other classes are decreasing.ThesisItem Embargo Development of aquaponic system for leafy vegetable production under protected conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Jatinder Kaur; Sharda, RakeshThe aquaponics system was successfully developed and evaluated in the polyhouse structure at Demonstration Area, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, for the combined production of common carp (Cyprinus Carpio) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa) from March 2022 to September 2022. Fish wastewater was utilized by hydroponics-based plants as nutrient-rich water and recirculated back to the fish tank. The experiment setup consisted of a circular fish culture unit (ø2*1m), solid separation unit, and biofiltration unit consisting of two blue barrels (ø0.56*0.9m) separately, 0.5 hp timer-based water pump, and 18 rectangular Nutrient Film Technique channels. Fish was stocked at density of 1.12 kg/m3 with an initial weight of 100 + 0.6 g with 180 plants of lettuce with 3-4 leaves to the hydroponics unit. The results indicate that the fish length and weight gain was 17.34% and 93.50% of initial values, respectively with 100% survival. The average crop biomass, number of leaves, leaf length, and leaf width per plant were 141.95 + 9.54 g, 18.06 + 0.54, 19.06 + 0.49 cm, and 10.06 + 0.40 cm respectively. Overall, the evaluation of developed aquaponics system proved to be success in terms of water quality parameters, fish growth, and crop yield.ThesisItem Open Access Estimation of Reference Evapotranspiration using Artificial Intelligence model for Punjab(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Sunil Kumar; Sharda, RakeshComputation of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is of prime importance in irrigation planning, hydrologic balance, agricultural and water resource management. As ET0 is a nonlinear, complex, and dynamic phenomenon due to its dependency on daily weather parameters, its precise estimation is a bit challenging. Artificial Intelligence techniques such as Artificial neural networks, Support vector machines, Random Forest, and Adaptive neurofuzzy inference systems can map non-linear and complex processes like ET0. In this study, the ANN model was developed using seven input scenarios of limited availability of weather data as input and FAO-56 PM ET0 as the target value for representative districts of Punjab. The input scenarios included combinations of daily weather parameters viz. Tmax, Tmin, RHmax, RHmin, n and u2. Collected weather data was split into training data (70%), validation data (15%) and testing data (15%) for representative districts of Punjab. Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was used as training algorithm and tansig as activation function in hidden layers in ANN model. The performance of the ANN model was compared with the FAO-56 PM method recommended as a standard method in computing ET0. Statistical analysis was carried out among ANN model simulated ET0 and FAO-56 PM ET0 using statistical indicators viz. r, R2, MSE, NRMSE, RMSE, and NSE. The results revealed that the ANN-S1 model had shown the highest performance for the study area with average NSE and MSE of 97.72% and 0.263 mm/day during the testing period. ANN-S2 model has outperformed all other models, and results were found close to ANN-S1. ANN model incorporated with scenarios of limited weather parameters viz. ANN-S3, ANN-S4, ANN-S5, and ANN-S7 have shown their capacity in simulating ET0 and have an average NSE above 85% during the testing period. ANN-S6 model based on air temperature and relative humidity was found less accurate among all other models. From the study, it was concluded that ANN models can act as alternatives to empirical methods and can be used for future prediction, which is very helpful in scheduling irrigation.ThesisItem Open Access Development and Evaluation of Inclined Tubes Clarifier for Recharge of Surplus Canal Water(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Mhetre Shruti Ravikiran; Siag, MukeshAn inclined tubes clarifier was designed and fabricated to handle a flow of 1.8 l/s to filter silt loaded canal water. PVC media of one meter length were attached one over the other to form the inclined tubes through which canal water was passed from bottom side and clarified water was obtained as outflow from the top of clarifier. The inclined tubes clarifier was tested for different suspended loads in the canal water in range of 500 mg/l to 3000 mg/l for pumping rate of 0.3 l/s to 2.1 l/s. The clarifier gave 85% Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removal efficiency for low flow rates (0.3 to 0.8 l/s) and above for flow rates beyond 0.8 l/s Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removal efficiency reduces drastically. Also, at all the flow rates the efficiency was found 6 % higher for Total Suspended Solids (TSS) >2000 mg/l in comparison to Total Suspended Solids (TSS) concentration of below 1000 mg/l. The clarifier makes no significant difference to the Total Dissolved Solids, Electrical Conductivity and pH of the canal water.ThesisItem Open Access Techno-Socio and Economic Study of Solar Operated Community Based Micro Irrigation Project at Talwara, Hoshiarpur(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Gladwin Cutting, Nikhil; Siag, MukeshThis study was carried out in Talwara block of Hoshiarpur district, Punjab, where the Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Punjab has established a lift irrigation project integrated with micro-irrigation systems and operated with solar power. The project covers 664 hectares of 14 villages and benefits around 1200 farmers. Software in Python language was developed for equitable distribution of irrigation water. The irrigation cycle taken was six days for sprinkler systems and every second day for drip irrigation. A provision for buffer time has been made for rescheduling the irrigation in case of disruption due to cloudy conditions or any technical breakdown. An android application was developed to facilitate the two-way communication between the farmers and the management covering aspects like irrigation and maintenance request, canal water status, network, and water user associations details, etc. An economic analysis was also done, three hundred farmers were randomly selected and their socio-economic status was recorded for pre-project (2016-17) and post-project (2019-20) years. The farmers were categorized as marginal, small, and semi-medium based on landholdings. Compared to pre-project status, the net incomes of the farmers increased by 114.52%, 108.03%, and 79.00% for marginal, small, and semi-medium farmers respectively. The food and non-food expenditures also increased post-project and the increase in expenditures was 83.91%,74.91, and 63.64% for marginal, small, and semi-medium farmers respectively. The net assets increased by 32.60%, 58.10%, and 27.81% for marginal, small, and semi-medium farmers respectively. The increase in net incomes, total assets, and the expenditure pattern indicates a clear positive impact of the project on the economic status of the beneficiary farmers.ThesisItem Open Access Development of hydroponic system for growing maize as fodder crop(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2022) Simranpreet Kaur; Biwalkar, NileshA study was conducted for “Development of hydroponic system for growing maize as fodder crop” at the demonstration area of the Department of Soil and Water Engineering, PAU, Ludhiana during the year 2020-21. A hydroponic system was designed and fabricated [1251mm (length) x 2753mm (height) x 813mm (width)] to study the different stages of growing maize as fodder crop for seven days. There were 12 treatment combinations under this study, with three levels of irrigation i.e. I1, I2 ; two nutrient application levels i.e. F1and F2, and two levels of light intensities i.e. L1 and L2.The treatments were laid in a complete randomized design with three replications to analyze the recorded data statistically. The data recorded under different treatment combinations indicates that the maximum yield was obtained under the treatment I3F2L2 as 3.61 kg per tray. Low level of irrigation frequency and nutrient application level produced more fodder yield as compared with medium and high levels. Higher water use efficiency and nutrient use efficiency were recorded under treatment combination of I3F2L2 as 1.42 and 27.5 respectively. Under quality parameters, crude protein was found to be 18.89 per cent and in vitro digestibility was high as 98 per cent. Economical analysis of the developed system was performed and on the basis of B:C ratio as 1.27:1 the present study is economically viable and technically feasible for production of maize as a fodder crop under a hydroponic system.
