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Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Dist. - Nadia, West Bengal PIN - 741 252

The university established in 1974, has completed five decades of its existence as the pioneer institute of Agricultural Education, Research and Extension. The main objective of this Viswavidyalaya is to provide facilities for the study of Agriculture, Horticulture and Agricultural Engineering. It is also to conduct researches in these sciences and undertake the educational and extension programmes in agriculture among the rural clientele base, keeping in view the requirements of the state.

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Author: Adak, Samik kumar × Start date: 2001 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Comparative suitability of different systems of cropping in an arsenic affected area
    (Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, 2002-06-24) Adak, Samik kumar; Mandal, Bijan K.
    In this study an investigation on various systems of cropping, with crops having low water demand as well as high market value was undertaken in the arsenic affected areas of Gotera Mouza, Chakdah, Nadia, West Bengal, during March 1998 to June 2001 keeping in mind the objective to study the build-up or uptake of arsenic in various plant parts including the consumables part as well as the change in soil buildup of arsenic by way of continued cultivation with water containing arsenic as well as to find out some suitable systems of cropping in respect of high net return, benefit: cost ratio and less water use to replace the traditional rice-rice system. Altogether, ten crop sequences were tried in a randomized block design with 3 replications, including the traditional one, i.e. rice (summer) - rice (winter) system. No visual phytotoxic effect of arsenic was observed on any of the studied crop plants and the plant growth remained unaffected as well as root growth exhibited no abnormality as evident from growth attributes like LAI, CGR, DM accumulation, etc. By and large, arsenic content in different plant parts declined progressively in most of the studied crops from root to stem, to leaf and to economic produce. Plants showed build-up of arsenic in increasing amount with the progress of growth, attaining the highest value at harvest, although it's magnitude varied among the different crops. Sesame recorded the lowest arsenic content (0.40 mg/kg) in the seeds at 30 DBH in 1st year while wheat roots recorded maximum uptake of 14.00 mg As/kg at harvest in 3rd year among all the crops tested. Mustard, groundnut and sesame recorded less uptake of arsenic in plant parts while elephant-foot yam and potato, green gram, maize, etc. showed moderate values. Among the cereals: summer rice in various sequences recorded very high values of arsenic build-up in all the plant parts. Wheat root recorded very high values of arsenic while maize roots showed comparatively lower values. Among the crops grown during the lean period comprising summer months, summer rice always exhibited the highest content of arsenic in plant parts. The alarming point was that all the crops showed progressively increasing values of arsenic concentration in different plant parts at unequal proportions over the years. Although there was some decline in soil arsenic values during the monsoon months, nevertheless, it increased unequally in different crop sequences in any single year. Soil nutrient status in relation to total N and available P improved a lot at the end of 3rd year as compared to their initial values in most systems of cropping. Available K content of soils decreased in most sequences at the end. Higher gross and net returns were obtained in sequences having elephant-foot yam or maize as a component crop. The highest benefit:cost ratios of 2.13:1 and 2.14:1 were obtained in greengram - rice (winter) - mustard sequence, followed by elephant-foot yam - mustard - sesame having the benefit:cost ratio of 1.95:1 and 2.03:1. Thus considering the points of total arsenic uptake, net return and corresponding benefit:cost ratio as well as the amount of water used for each sequence, the much talked about rice-rice system, mainly responsible for arsenic mobilization in ground water, can easily be substituted by sequences like elephant-foot yam - mustard - sesame, elephant-foot yam - maize - greengram or greengram - rice - mustard to reduce further spread of arsenic contamination.