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Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat

Assam Agricultural University is the first institution of its kind in the whole of North-Eastern Region of India. The main goal of this institution is to produce globally competitive human resources in farm sectorand to carry out research in both conventional and frontier areas for production optimization as well as to disseminate the generated technologies as public good for benefitting the food growers/produces and traders involved in the sector while emphasizing on sustainability, equity and overall food security at household level. Genesis of AAU - The embryo of the agricultural research in the state of Assam was formed as early as 1897 with the establishment of the Upper Shillong Experimental Farm (now in Meghalaya) just after about a decade of creation of the agricultural department in 1882. However, the seeds of agricultural research in today’s Assam were sown in the dawn of the twentieth century with the establishment of two Rice Experimental Stations, one at Karimganj in Barak valley in 1913 and the other at Titabor in Brahmaputra valley in 1923. Subsequent to these research stations, a number of research stations were established to conduct research on important crops, more specifically, jute, pulses, oilseeds etc. The Assam Agricultural University was established on April 1, 1969 under The Assam Agricultural University Act, 1968’ with the mandate of imparting farm education, conduct research in agriculture and allied sciences and to effectively disseminate technologies so generated. Before establishment of the University, there were altogether 17 research schemes/projects in the state under the Department of Agriculture. By July 1973, all the research projects and 10 experimental farms were transferred by the Government of Assam to the AAU which already inherited the College of Agriculture and its farm at Barbheta, Jorhat and College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara, Guwahati. Subsequently, College of Community Science at Jorhat (1969), College of Fisheries at Raha (1988), Biswanath College of Agriculture at Biswanath Chariali (1988) and Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science at Joyhing, North Lakhimpur (1988) were established. Presently, the University has three more colleges under its jurisdiction, viz., Sarat Chandra Singha College of Agriculture, Chapar, College of Horticulture, Nalbari & College of Sericulture, Titabar. Similarly, few more regional research stations at Shillongani, Diphu, Gossaigaon, Lakhimpur; and commodity research stations at Kahikuchi, Buralikson, Tinsukia, Kharua, Burnihat and Mandira were added to generate location and crop specific agricultural production packages.

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20171
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Subject: Agricultural Meteorology × Author: Chutia, Sumpi × End date: 2017 ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    DEVELOPMENT OF YIELD FORECASTING MODELS FOR WINTER RICE USING METEOROLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN THE BRAHMAPUTRA VALLEY OF ASSAM
    (AAU, Jorhat, 2017-07) Chutia, Sumpi
    Crop yield forecasting is an art of predicting crop yields and production before the harvest actually takes place, typically a couple of months in advance. It is very much crucial for the sound planning and policy making in the agricultural sectors of the country. Different types of models viz, crop simulation models, crop weather analysis models and empirical statistical models are generally used to develop district, state and national level yield forecast. Keeping this in view, a study was carried out to develop yield forecast models of winter rice using modified Hendricks and Scholl technique in 14 districts of the Brahmaputra valley of Assam at vegetative (F1) and mid season (F2) stage of the crop. To develop the model, long-term yield data (kg/ha) and weather data on daily basis (maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity morning and evening) were collected for the period 1990-2015. In addition, one extra parameter - BSSH from two locations (Jorhat and Tezpur) for the same period were also collected and utilized to develop forecast models for Golaghat, Jorhat and Sonitpur districts. The daily data were grouped into weekly basis as per requirement of the model. Weekly data were used to prepare simple and weighted weather indices for individual weather variables as well as for interaction of variables. Among the 25 years of yield and weather indices, 22 years data (1990-2012) were used to develop the forecast models and remaining three years data (2013, 2014 and 2015) were used for validation of the models developed. Stepwise regression analysis was executed by trial and error method to obtain the finest combination of predictors at 5% significant level. Result revealed that the model developed for Kamrup district showed good performance compared to other models with highest value of R2 (0.88 & 0.92 in F1 & F2) and with acceptable limit of per cent error, RMSE, nRMSE, MAE and MBE during the process of validation. On the other hand, yield forecast model developed for Bongaigaon district showed poor performance during validation and recorded the highest value of per cent error, RMSE, nRMSE, MAE and MBE compared to other districts during both the forecast (F1 & F2). Interaction of weather variables like Tmax & RH-II, Tmin & RF and Tmin & RH-1 were mainly found to influence the rice yield during F1 and F2 forecast in most of the districts. Forecast model developed after inclusion of BSSH has shown improvement in R2 except Sonitpur district during F1 forecast compared to the model developed without BSSH. Better result was observed in Golaghat district with highest R2 and lowest per cent error, RMSE, nRMSE MAE and MBE compared to Jorhat and Sonitpur. Yield forecast models developed in these three districts showed their dependency on the interaction of BSSH with rainfall as an important weather variable in influencing the winter rice yield. Thus, BSSH data may be included in developing the crop yield forecast models wherever available for better accuracy of forecast.