Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T1-38 P-1424
Irrigation Requirement of Different Crops of Krishna Basin Under
Changing Climatic Scenarios
D. Kalyana Srinivas, R. Rejani, G.S. Pratyusha Kranthi, K.V. Rao and S. Deepika
ICAR- Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad-500059
Indian agriculture is severely affected by climate change due to increased crop water
requirement and decreased availability of water, particularly in drylands (Behera et al., 2016).
The rise in surface temperature increases the evaporation rates, influences the precipitation,
leads to extreme events and affects the soil moisture. Human activities, along with increased
evapotranspiration and decreases in precipitation, have resulted in desertification in some
drylands. The prolonged dry spell in rainfed areas reduces the growing period and crop
productivity by causing water stress. Irrigation is the efficient usage of fresh water, and with
the growing scarcity of this essential natural resource, it is becoming increasingly important to
maximize efficiency of water usage. It implies accurate management of irrigation and control
of application depths in order to apply water effectively according to crop needs. Assessing
irrigation and agriculture potential is an important activity in successful agriculture
management.
Methodology
The study area covers parts of four large states namely, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana with a geographical area of 258,000 km 2 (nearly 8% of India). The
basin has a maximum length and width of about 701 km and 672 km and lies between 73°17'
to 81°9' east longitudes and 13°10' to 19°22' north latitudes. Most of the basin is relatively flat
and 90% lies below 750 m elevation. However, elevations in the Western Ghats reach up to
1,900 m. Soils in the basin are generally shallow and clayey, with some areas of gravelly clay
and loam. Soil types (based on the Soil Taxonomy classification system, NRCS 1999) include
Entisols and Vertisols (black cotton soils) in the west and Alfisols (red soils) in the south and
east. Soils tend to be deeper in valley bottoms and are deeper on average in Andhra Pradesh.
The average annual rainfall of the basin is 784 mm. Dry spells are commonly experienced
during July, August and September which concur with the vegetative or prolific stages of major
rainfed crops which in turn affects the crop yield drastically. It is possible to increase the yield
of pigeon pea, kharif maize, rabi maize and groundnut crops, by providing supplemental
irrigations during critical growth stages significantly. To ensure the long-term sustainability of
these crops, an attempt is made to find the irrigation water requirement of these crops of
Krishna basin spatially for present and future scenarios.
Resilience through land and water management interventions, water management and governance
103 | Page