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Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa

In the imperial Gazetteer of India 1878, Pusa was recorded as a government estate of about 1350 acres in Darbhanba. It was acquired by East India Company for running a stud farm to supply better breed of horses mainly for the army. Frequent incidence of glanders disease (swelling of glands), mostly affecting the valuable imported bloodstock made the civil veterinary department to shift the entire stock out of Pusa. A British tobacco concern Beg Sutherland & co. got the estate on lease but it also left in 1897 abandoning the government estate of Pusa. Lord Mayo, The Viceroy and Governor General, had been repeatedly trying to get through his proposal for setting up a directorate general of Agriculture that would take care of the soil and its productivity, formulate newer techniques of cultivation, improve the quality of seeds and livestock and also arrange for imparting agricultural education. The government of India had invited a British expert. Dr. J. A. Voelcker who had submitted as report on the development of Indian agriculture. As a follow-up action, three experts in different fields were appointed for the first time during 1885 to 1895 namely, agricultural chemist (Dr. J. W. Leafer), cryptogamic botanist (Dr. R. A. Butler) and entomologist (Dr. H. Maxwell Lefroy) with headquarters at Dehradun (U.P.) in the forest Research Institute complex. Surprisingly, until now Pusa, which was destined to become the centre of agricultural revolution in the country, was lying as before an abandoned government estate. In 1898. Lord Curzon took over as the viceroy. A widely traveled person and an administrator, he salvaged out the earlier proposal and got London’s approval for the appointment of the inspector General of Agriculture to which the first incumbent Mr. J. Mollison (Dy. Director of Agriculture, Bombay) joined in 1901 with headquarters at Nagpur The then government of Bengal had mooted in 1902 a proposal to the centre for setting up a model cattle farm for improving the dilapidated condition of the livestock at Pusa estate where plenty of land, water and feed would be available, and with Mr. Mollison’s support this was accepted in principle. Around Pusa, there were many British planters and also an indigo research centre Dalsing Sarai (near Pusa). Mr. Mollison’s visits to this mini British kingdom and his strong recommendations. In favour of Pusa as the most ideal place for the Bengal government project obviously caught the attention for the viceroy.

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2015 - 202017
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End date: 2020 × Start date: 2015 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Tech. ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of laboratory calibration test rig cum sticky belt seed pattern device
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Bansod, Shashank; Kumar, Manoranjan
    The mechanization era of Machineries are contributing to higher yield in current farming scenario of sowing and planting implements such as seed drill. The seed drill is the most commonly used machine to plant seeds in India. Increasing of productivity of any crop can be obtained by genetic improvement or by the use of efficient production practices or by the combination. Precise amount of seeds in rows is an important factor in crop production, which can affect growth and yield so this is to a great extent depends on the performance of the metering mechanism of the seed drill and planter. The important criterion in evaluating seed drill performance is seed spacing uniformity. A laboratory test for calibration of the seed drill was conducted on a test rig. Different rotational speeds (rpm) were selected for the seed metering drive shaft. Then simulating speed in the laboratory speeds of kmh-1 were chosen for the movement of the test rig. So testing of a seed drill/planter is an essential job to show the performance characteristics which affect seeding rate, seeding distribution etc. There are different factors like travelling speed, tire inflation, seeder drive wheel slippage; differences in the seeds affect the seeding rate. A uniform distribution of seeds provides maximum space for each plant and increases yields due to the reduction of intra-specific competition. It helps also in weed controls, Weeds are suppressed due to the prevention of misses. There would be benefits from improving the uniformity of seed distribution such as increase in the yield of cereals. The most astronomically immense part of the upsurge in spawning is credited to increased use of mechanical power and the development of widely effective machines and implements too. Between the machines that contribute to higher yields in today's agriculture are sowing implements such as the planter and seed drill. For the seeding purpose, seed drills are the most widely used machines for planting seeds in India as well as other countries too. An increase in the productivity of any crop can be obtained through genetic improvement or through the use of efficient breeding practices or through accumulation. In addition, the precise magnitude of seeds in rows is a consequential influencer in crop generation, which can affect growth and yield and this is highly dependent on the performance of the sowing implement i.e planter and seed drill measurement mechanism. Consequently, testing of a planter / seed drill is vital important roll work to show performance and properties that influence seeding distribution, seeding rate, etc. In addition, every element of a sowing implement such as planter or seed drill, including the furrow openers, pressure wheels ground wheel and seed metering device, disturb the support of the crop. Mounted the seed cum fertilizer drill on the developed test rig post and allow 10 meter long belt to travel under the furrow openers or seed tubes in such a way that the speed of the belt to the equal to running speed of the power drive wheel of seed cum fertilizer drill. Apply the sticky layer of grease to the belt to facilitate the proper embedding of seeds without any displacement. The tests were piloted with the support of the developed test-rig cum seed pattern device as stationary test happened. The test rig was definite horizontal travel (not slop at any directions). Operated the drill and observation were recorded the number of seeds dropped and the average distance between two seeds for each meter of belt length Repeated the test ten times. The laboratory experimental work and measurements were carried out in the Farm Machinery Testing Center, CAE, DRPCAU, Pusa. The Physical properties of wheat and paddy where the Bulk Density of wheat is average of 10 samples; it is 0.83 g/cm3. The 1000 g average weight of wheat seed was found 43.4 g. Similarly the average bulk density of paddy was recorded 1.5 g/cm2 and average weight of 1000 paddy seed was found 48.2 g. The dimensions of wheat and paddy seed of 100 samples were taken. The average dimensions of used seeds were length, width and thickness in wheat sample was 5.87 mm, 3.34 mm and 2.75 mm and in case of paddy it was observed 7.62 mm, 2.51 mm, and 2.17mm respectively. During sowing of seed by seed cum fertilizer drill,dropping of seed effect the speed. In seed cum fertilizer drill, seed dropping from seed metering mechanism to field by gravitational force hence dropping of seed in field does not effect on quantity of seed because when sowing in field the vibration occurred in the seed cum fertilizer drill due to this vibration neglect the effect of quantity of seed in the seed box. The spacing between seed to seed in case of wheat and paddy affects the speed of seed cum fertilizer drill. The in number of grain also affect the speed of grain. The speed of seed cum fertilizer drill will be more the dropping in number of seed will be higher and vice versa. 11 tyne seed cum fertilizer drill, fluted roller seed metering mechanism was not suitable for sowing of paddy seed. Recommended that 11 tyne seed cum fertilizer drill with fluted roller seed metering mechanism and inverted T type furrow opener is suitable for sowing of wheat for zero tillage. Not recommended for sowing of paddy seed due to very much damage in percentage.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of real time soil EC sensing system
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Singh, Ajit; Patel, S. K.
    Productivity and production of the major crops has increased many folds since the independence. Simultaneously, the use of chemical fertilizers has also increased which have caused negative impact the on-soil‘s health. The extensive use of chemical fertilizers can be reduced by their precise application. Nitrogen is one of the most important among chemical fertilizers. Some researchers have found that nitrogen fertilizer can be applied on the basis of soil‘s electrical conductivity. Mostly, the soil‘s electrical conductivity is measured in laboratory which takes more time. If EC is managed to be measured within the field on real time basis then it can be employed at the time of sowing the crop. Therefore, a project on development of real time soil EC sensing system was taken. Four electrodes were used to measure electrical conductivity of soil. Out of four electrodes, outer two electrodes were used for current flow in the soil which is kept 6 cm deep and voltage (potential difference) between inner two electrodes were measured which was also at same depth. Two methods i.e. soil-salt and salt-water were used to vary the EC of soil as well as water. Two relationships i.e. EC vs V were developed for soil-salt and salt-water which were used for the calibration equations. The coefficients of determination (R2) were 0.849 for EC vs V (soil-salt method) and 0.793 for EC vs V (salt-water). The Pearson‘s coefficients of correlations were 0.921 and 0.891 for the same which were significant. A multiple regression equation (EC, V and MC) was also determined. The coefficient of determination was 0.793 for the same which was also significant. Using above equation program was written to measure EC in real time. The developed sensor was validated in actual field condition. To validate the developed sensor, sensing system was operating in the field and measure EC in real time. Simultaneously, soil samples were also collected to measure EC in lab. The measured data by sensor was validated lab data. The coefficient of determination was 0.651 Therefore, the developed sensing system is very simple, easy to use to measure EC in real time which will reduce the time and drudgery substantially.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of drainage plan for waterlogged areas of Darbhanga district using remote sensing and GIS approach
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) D, Sudhakar Raj; Bhagat, I. B.
    In India, rainfall is variable which causes flood and drought frequently. In Bihar, out of 38 districts, 28 districts will become flooded and 15 districts among them will get extremely affected in every consecutive year. Nearly, 73.63% of the geographical area of North Bihar is considered to be prone to floods. Next to flood, congestion in drainage of surface water resulting into water-logging is another major serious problem in the Bihar state. The combined use of remotely-sensed images and GIS based environmental applications in this work is needed for systematic ideas and scientific planning in the Darbhanga district of Bihar. Image processing and water-logged area assessment was done using ArcGIS and eCognition software. The index-based classification method was followed in an ArcGIS software and as a result, various indices such as NDVI, NDWI, MNDWI (Esri), MNDWI (IHS) had been obtained to assess the water-logged portions. Among the various indices used in different months False Colour Composite image, it was found that the month of September (2017) is the best month to indicate, assess and delineate the water-logged areas. Comparison with the other indices, MNDWI was highlighting the water-logged portions in the better way. The object-based classification was carried out in eCognition software which will convert the pixels into objects. The water-logged boundary layer was extracted by using the threshold value of -0.175 in the September month MNDWI raster. The total area subjected to water-logging in the Darbhanga district was found to be 42,282 ha. The area of water-logging was found in the two sub-divisions of the Darbhanga district. The blocks of Darbhanga and Biraul sub-division, holding the water-logging area of 21,899 ha and 20,383 ha respectively. The maximum expected rainfall at 60 per cent, 70 per cent and 80 per cent probability levels were found using Weibull’s formula and 70 percent maximum rainfall of consecutive days was considered for the drainage characteristics which have been analysed with the formula of volume-balance method. The average pan evaporation loss was estimated as 0.385 cm per day. The average percolation loss was found based on the previous research works and considered for analysis of drainage characteristics. The drainage coefficient of consecutive days i.e., 1-,2-,3-,4-,5-,6- and 7- days for the blocks of Darbhanga sub-division was found to be 27.71, 16.93, 12.57, 10.42, 9.19, 8.35 and 1.60 cm per day respectively and for the blocks of Biraul sub-division it was computed as 18.12, 10.94, 8.07, 6.66, 5.85, 5.31 and 4.79 cm per day respectively. The surface drainage plan for the blocks of Darbhanga and Biraul sub-divisions have been expressed by showing the main drain lines and outlets which was based on the comparison of different thematic maps. The useful measures also have been suggested to execute the drainage plan in an active manner.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Osmotic dehydration of mushroom
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Harshvardhani, Baddam; Sharma, P.D.
    Fresh and good quality Button mushrooms were procured from the Mushroom Research Unit Dr.RPCAU, Pusa, and were washed thoroughly under running water and followed by cutting into slices of 5 mm thickness before cutting ends. Osmotic dehydration experiments were conducted by employing CCR design for three independent variables at five levels [Salt Concentration (SC) - 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 %; Solution Temperature (ST) - 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 oC; Immersion Time (IT) - 60, 120, 180, 240, 300 min.]. A total 20 combinations of these independent variables were formed to see their effect on different dependent variables like Water Loss (WL, %), Solute Gain (SG, %) and Weight Reduction (WR %) of osmo-dehydrated product. Out of total 20 experiments, the best combination was selected on the basis of optimization by Response Surface Methodology. Second order multiple regression equations were developed for all the dependent variables to know the effect of independent variables. Osmotic dehydration treatment facilitates better results with optimum solution of SC-10.21 %, ST- 50℃ and IT - 120 minutes with an optimized yield as WL- 52.585 %, SG- 5.946 % and WR of osmo-dehydrated sample- 47.023 % with desirability 0.878. A laboratory model tray dryer was used for drying of Button Mushroom. Three different samples of Button Mushroom Slices viz. untreated, blanched and optimized osmosed samples were taken for drying experiment at each level of drying air temperature (50, 60 and 70oC). Drying time, drying rate and moisture reduction were calculated later on the basis of observed data. Drying of osmosed Button Mushroom slices at 70oC drying air temperature provided shortest drying time to produce best quality dried product as compared to blanched and untreated Button Mushroom samples. The drying time of osmosed sample was reduced to 480 minutes as compared to 600 and 660 minutes taken by blanched and untreated button mushroom samples. The dehydrated and dried button mushroom slices were taken for quality evaluation by sensory method, rehydration and proximate composition analysis. The above osmotically dehydrated button mushroom samples showed best rehydration characteristics like Rehydration ratio of 4.98 and coefficient of rehydration of 0.493 to yield good quality rehydrated sample which can be preserved and used during off-season. Key Words: Button Mushroom, Osmotic dehydration, CCR Design, Response Surface Methodology, Salt concentration, Solution temperature, Immersion time, Water loss, Salt gain, Drying air temperature, Drying rate, Quality evaluation, Rehydration, Sensory evaluation, Proximate composition analysis.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of electrically heated dryer for turmeric
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Tiwari, Diwakar; Srivastava, Mukesh
    An electrically heated dryer was designed and fabricated for turmeric drying for 25 kg capacity with five drying trays. The fabricated dryer has the dimensions of drying chamber as 102 × 53 × 57 cm, tray-100 × 50 × 5 cm and stand-102 × 53 × 70 cm. The procured turmeric lot was thoroughly cleaned, washed and trimmed to get rhizomes which were boiled and tempered in laboratory autoclave for total 220 minutes. After determining initial moisture content (82.19 % w.b.), turmeric rhizomes were evenly spread on five drying trays (5 kg in each tray) and were put inside the preheated dryer. The data were recorded for weight reduction in samples from each tray at prefixed time interval. Other observations included the inlet and outlet temperature of drying air, dryer temperature and RH at bottom tray 1 and top tray 5, ambient temperature and RH, air velocity and energy consumed during entire period of experiment. Drying was continued till three consecutive weights were recorded as almost same indicating the samples had reached at their equilibrium in different trays. Weight reduction data was used to calculate moisture content in wet and dry basis and drying rate. The performance of the dryer was evaluated on the basis of moisture reduction, drying rate, time taken for drying, heat utilization factor and dryer efficiency. Some important physical properties like size, shape, surface area & volume, bulk density, true density, porosity were also determined for fresh, boiled and dried turmeric rhizomes. The turmeric rhizomes were dried from initial moisture content of 82.19 % (w.b.) to final moisture content in the range of 8.22% in 1980 minutes, 10.07% in 2280 minutes, 12.96% in 2580 minutes,13.98% in 2820 minutes, 15.68% in 3120 minutes for tray 1, tray 2, tray3 ,tray4 and tray 5 respectively. Overall drying rate during the process varied from 0.172 × 10-3 to 0.086 × 10-3 kgW /kg.dm.h. The dryer had an average HUF of 0.842 during turmeric drying with drying efficiency of 33.483%. The total moisture content reduction (from initial to final moisture content) was found 73.97, 72.12, 69.23, 68.20 and 66.51(%w.b.) in tray1, tray2, tray3, tray4 and tray5 in 1980, 2280, 2580, 2820, and 3120 minutes respectively. During full load condition, the average temperature in the drying chamber was 56.45°C, which is near to the optimum temperature required for drying of turmeric rhizomes. It can be concluded that the developed system is suitable for drying of 25 kg/batch turmeric for the farming community with good quality.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of ready to use powder from plant based clarificants for production of quality jaggery
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Tekam, Amit; Kumar, Vishal
    Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is commercial cash crops used for the Jaggery production. The process involves extraction of juice, clarification and concentration. The raw juice contains impurities and non-soluble solids which affect the quality of the jaggery. Hence clarification process is done. Plant based clarificant are effective clarificants and produces good quality jaggery. Due to non-availability of any plant based clarificants during jaggery manufacturing period, an attempt was made to develop ready-to-use clarificant powder prepared from different plant based clarificants which can be available throughout the year. The selected clarificant materials - fenugreek seeds, flax seeds, soybean seeds, semal bark and okra stem were dried and milled into powder using grinder. The mucilage was prepared from seeds and plant sources powder by soaking in water at ratio of 1:5 (w/v) for 6 h, then boiling in water bath for 5 h and then cooling below 20 oC. The mixtures were then filtered with muslin cloth and the filtered was used for jaggery production at three different concentrations namely 0.1%, 0.3% & 0.5% (w/w) to sugarcane juice. The effect of the clarificants and their levels on each quality parameters such as moisture content, jaggery yield, processing time, scum removal, TSS, pH, colour, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar and sensory score were found using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 5 per cent level of significance. It was observed that jaggery yield, processing time, scum removed, colour and sensory were affected significantly by the type of clarificants used while reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, pH, TSS and moisture content had non-significant effect. Okra stem clarificants had maximum effect on quality parameters in order to yield-12.2%, processing time-72.33 min, colour-74.56%, non-reducing sugar-83.14%, reducing sugar- 8.02%, TSS-81.3% and moisture content-5.34%. Soybean seeds had maximum effect on scum removed and pH. Sensory attributes were maximum for fenugreek seeds. Okra stem, soybean seed and fenugreek seeds were selected for the preparation of mixture clarificants which will bear all the quality parameters for the production of quality jaggery. The mixture clarificants were optimized using Response surface methodology to determine the mixtures proportion based on quality parameters. A total 16 combinations were formed with three levels of each clarificants [okra stem-0.1, 0.3 and 0.5%, soybean seeds-0.1, 0.3& 0.5%, Fenugreek seeds-0.1, 0.3& 0.5%] and the effect of mixtures were determined on different dependent variables like yield, processing time, scum removal, colour, and sensory score of these independent variables. Second order multiple regression equations were also developed for all the dependent variables. The optimize mixture clarificant of okra stem- 0.5 per cent, soybean seeds- 0.1 per cent and fenugreek seeds - 0.4 per cent emerged out as better than other mixture in order to obtain optimized yield - 12.16 per cent, scum remove - 6.58 percent, colour-74.31 per cent, sensory score-8.72, and minimum processing time-75.42 min.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Standardization of Irrigation and fertigation schedule for Tomato cultivation under soil less media
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Umashanker; Nirala, S. K.
    The research work entitled “Standardization of Irrigation and Fertigation schedule for Tomato cultivation under Soil Less Media” was conducted with eighteen treatments. The treatments comprised with different soil less media like Cocopeat, Perlite,Vermiculite,Vermicompost and sand along with three levels of RDF and two levels of irrigation. The tomato plants planted in grow bags irrigation and fertigation applied with drip irrigation system. Tomato crop of variety Avinash-2 was selected for experiment. The field layout done by using CRD with three replications. The seasonal crop water requirement of tomato plants in soilless media in grow bages cultivation varies from 12.72 to 15.90 cm under irrigation level 80% and 100% Etc.The best growing media was foundCocopeat + Perlite + Vermicompost (3:1:1). The composite effect of growing media, irrigation and fertigation on vegetative growth and yield parameters (fruit length, fruit diameter, numbers of fruit per plant, fruit weight, yield per plant) was found better in treatment M1I2F1 (Cocopeat + Perlite + Vermicompost + 0.80 ETc + 125 % RDF). The maximum average vegetative growth was recorded as 102.12 cm, fruit length 5.55 cm, maximum diameter 5.29 cm, average numbers of fruit per plant 63.73, average fruit weight 90.82 g, and maximum yield 5.23 kg per plant was recorded. However, the minimum yield was (2.88 Kg) under M1F3I2 treatment. The B: C ratio of 3.12 and maximum net income of Rs 211211/- per 1000 m2 in treatment M1I2F1 and minimum B: C ratio of 1.46 in treatment M1F3I2 (control).
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of battery operated push type cabbage (Brassica oleracea. L.) harvester
    (DRPCAU, Pusa, 2020) Kumar, Vasu; Patel, S. K.
    Vegetables production is one of the enumerative as well as job creative farming. Cabbage production is one of the most important vegetable crops in abroad as well as India. It has high nutritive values, high productivity and wider adaptability. India is second largest producer of cabbage in the world. Harvesting of cabbage crop is one of the most difficult tasks for cabbage growers because cabbage crop is harvest at proper maturity stage for higher production and more income. Traditionally, the well matured cabbages are harvested manually by sickle which is time consuming and inefficient. More over manual harvesting is done in a bending position which is arduous to the farmer and causes backache. Therefore, a project on development of battery-operated push type cabbage (Brassica oleracea. L.) harvester was undertaken. The biometric parameters of the cabbage relevant to the cabbage harvester were determined. The average row to row and plant to plant spacing was 520 and 505 mm. The average plant height and head height was 281.1 and 106.85 mm. The average values for plant diameter, head diameter, plant weight and head weight were 389.05 mm, 128.05 mm, 1.75 kg and 1.41 kg, respectively. Whereas, the average values for stem diameter, length of leaf stem and length of stem were 27.5 mm, 58.35 mm and 44.7 mm, respectively. Based on above measured parameters, a battery operated push type cabbage harvester was developed which consisted of main frame, battery, DC motor, circular saw blade, belt conveyor, storage unit, handle and supporting wheel. The major components of cabbage harvester were cabbage cutting and conveying unit. Cabbage cutting unit consist of circular saw blade of 20 cm diameter. Cabbage conveying unit consisted of belt conveyor with lugs which convey the cabbages to storage unit. Cabbage cutting and conveying was done mechanically by means of electric motor which is powered by battery. The push force required for transportation and field condition were 44 N and 88 N, respectively. Whereas, the power required for cutting and conveying were 108 W and 84 W, respectively. The performance of the developed cabbage harvester was evaluated in the field at three forward speed. It was observed that the average cutting efficiency, conveying efficiency and head damage were 94.24%, 90.16% and 9.84 % respectively. The effective field capacity and field efficiency of developed cabbage harvester was of 0.0058 ha/h and 82.85%, respectively at forward speed of 0.14 km/h. The field capacity by traditional method i.e. by sickle was 0.0041 ha/h. The labour required per hectare was 172.4 man-h and 241.54 man-h by developed cabbage harvester and traditional method, respectively. The total cost of developed cabbage harvester was Rs. 15072/-. The estimated cost of harvesting per hectare was Rs 7768.79/ha and Rs. 9057.97/ha by developed cabbage harvester and traditional method, respectively. Hence, net saving in harvesting cost was Rs. 1289.18/ha as compared to manual harvesting of cabbage. The cabbages cut per hour was 253 and 180 by cabbage harvester and traditional method, respectively. The developed cabbage harvester was able to cut 73 more cabbage per hour as compared to traditional method.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Drought assessment and impact of land use land cover change on surface water extent of Bihar using remote sensing and GIS
    (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, 2019) Bhawana; Prasad, Sudarshan
    The captured satellite datasets using advanced techniques such as remote sensing (RS) and its processing to extract the information using geographic information system (GIS) have been used for detection of droughts and its mapping for the Bihar state. Meteorological droughts over various places of Bihar during monsoon season were identified using standard precipitation index (SPI) through software for SPI computation. The daily rainfall estimates of time duration of 67 years from 1951 to 2017 extracted from satellite datasets viz. Asian Precipitation Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration towards evaluation of water resources (APHRODITE) of duration 47 years from 1951 to 1997 and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) of duration 20 years from 1998 to 2017 were used for the purpose. The whole area of the state was divided into total number of 301 grid points of 0.25° × 0.25° resolutions and monthly time series of rainfall (mm) estimates were obtained for each grid points from daily rainfall estimates obtained from TRMM and APHRODITE. These datasets of monthly time series were validated with rainfall data of monthly time series of 20 years duration from 1998 to 2017 observed at rain gauge station, Pusa using statistical techniques Thus, spatio-temporal maps of SPI based meteorological drought were developed for the years 2000 to 2017 for the area under study. Vegetation condition index (VCI) estimated through MODIS NDVI products obtained from USGS Earth Explorer for Bihar state were composited for Kharif and Rabi season from year 2000 to 2017. Spatio-temporal maps of NDVI and VCI for Kharif as well as Rabi season were developed based on vegetation indices for the years from 2000 to 2017. Using LANDSAT-5 (TM) and LANDSAT-8 (OLI/TIRS) imageries unsupervised image classification was performed. The Land use-land cover maps were generated for the years 2008 and 2018 with six feature classes namely agricultural land, settlement, vegetation, waste land, water body and sand were identified. Analysis of SPI revealed that the year 2006 experienced moderate dry conditions in the districts like Kishanganj, Araria, Purnea, Katihar and Gopalganj. In the year 2013 districts like West Champaran, Saran, Gopalganj Sheohar, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and Samastipur faced moderately dry conditions repeating the trend in 2016. In all the years from 2000-2017 majority of the study area experienced mild drought. However, in case of 2007, almost all the districts of the study area having the extreme wet condition because of high rainfall during monsoon season. The temporal variation of NDVI in the year from 2000 to 2017 showed that most of the south-western districts of the state noticed the low value of NDVI ranging from 0.2 to 0.4 during Kharif season of almost all years. During the wet year of 2007, the high value of NDVI (>0.5) was noticed in almost every district except Samatipur, Darbhanga and Khagaria which experienced highly wet condition. During entire period of analysis lush vegetation with high value NDVI of more than 0.6 was noticed except for Banka and Jamui districts which experienced moderately dry condition in almost every year from 2000 to 2017. Spatio-temporal maps with varying VCI, showed the moderate to no drought conditions in the study area. In the year 2000, extremely good vegetation condition was observed decreasing in each year especially in the year 2005 in which almost entire area experienced low value of VCI ranging from 0.5 to 0.2 indicating fair vegetation condition. During Rabi season districts like Banka and Jamui show consistent poor vegetation condition in the years from 2000 to 2016. Analysis of Land use-land cover map for the years 2008 and 2018 depicted that there was drastic change in most of the feature classes. The water body shrinked to 2.13 % with areal loss of water body by 35.74 km2.