Sahu, R.K.Sahu, K.K.Mukherjee, A.P.Tripathi, M.P.Rathore, A.L.Changade, Nitin Madan2017-02-142017-02-142005http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810000765The best strategy for sustainable management of waste lands (Bhata) is to put land under alternate land uses such as plantation, pasture, fish pond etc. Attempt was made to grow vegetable as intercrop in tree plantation model at village Upperwara (Raipur district) in order to boost the economy of the farmer with the help of micro-irrigation. The micro drip irrigation and pitcher irrigation system were fabricated using local and market available materials. The manifold and its lateral were designed and operated as a single unified system, controlled by a single valve The test crops were bottle gourd, bitter gourd and cucumber, grown in specially dugout pits, filled with medium textured soil mixed with manures, fertilizers and covered with straw mulch for moisture conservation. The CROPWAT model was used to estimate the ET of various vegetables. Irrigation was scheduled using ET values and soil characteristics. Systems hydraulic performance was evaluated by measuring discharge variation among the different emitters, estimating friction head losses in different components. The correlation was developed between average discharge of emitters and pressure head. The performance parameters viz. coefficient of uniformity and emission uniformity were found to be excellent (> 95 %) Among the vegetable, the bottle gourd resulted in significantly higher yields (265.4 q ha-1, CD5% = 13 q ha-1) as compared to other vegetables. It was almost double than other test crops. Bottle gourd produced highest yield under drip irrigation (290.9 q ha-1), closely followed by the yield under pitcher irrigation (276 q ha-1). The intersection of crop and irrigation was found significant (CD5%= 22.5 q ha-1). The water use efficiency was also found significantly higher in drip irrigation (2.65 q ha-1cm-1, CD5% = 0.17 q ha-1cm-1). The economics of the system was worked out. Per ha system cost was Rs. 50,778 and Rs. 14,700 for drip and pitcher irrigation respectively. On an average the use of micro irrigation system resulted higher yield (25.7%-drip, 21.2%-pitcher), saving in water (49.6%-drip, 52.7%-pitcher), labour cost (45.8%-drip, 35.5%-pitcher), fertilizer cost (68.8%-drip, 71.9%pitcher) and higher B/C ratio (3.68-drip, 3.62-pitcher) as compared to basin irrigation. Thus in one season (1/3rd year) additional cost on micro-irrigation can be recouped. In this way the locally fabricated micro drip irrigation and pitcher irrigation system were found significantly superior as compared to the basin irrigation. Straw mulching and replacing soil in pits by good soils further proved to be effective moisture conservation strategy.enThesis