Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
296 | Page
T2a-25P-1369
Effect of in-situ Moisture Conservation Measures and Stress Management Practices on
Growth and Productivity of Rainfed Cotton
A. Mohammed Ashraf * , T. Ragavan and S. Naziya Begam
College of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Vendhar Nagar,
Baburayanpettai - 603201, Chengalpattu District, Tamil Nadu, India.
*ashrafbsa09040@gmail.com
The moisture stress during crop growth period is the primary cause for the yield reduction in
cotton. To improve the soil moisture availability, by reducing the evaporation losses and
retaining the moisture in effective rooting zone. The soil application of superabsorbent
polymers (SAPs) is found to be the promising methodology in rainfed areas. However, very
limited research work has experimented on this. One of such developed product is ‘PUSA
hydrogel’ which is first successful an indigenous semi-synthetic superabsorbent technology
for conserving water and enhancing crop productivity and thereby increases the water use
efficiency (IARI, 2012). To reduce transpiration losses, foliar application of nutrient
formulations, growth regulators, antitranspirants etc. of cotton are being tried by many
researchers. Keeping all these fact in view, the present study was undertaken to study the
influence of different land configuration measures and soil conditioners in moisture
conservation along with stress management techniques in soil moisture retention, growth and
yield performance of rainfed cotton.
Methodology
Field experiments were conducted at Regional Research Station, Aruppukottai, Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu during rabi season of 2016 and 2017 with the test
variety SVPR-2. The soil of the experimental fields was medium deep, well drained vertisol
(Type Chromusterts) in texture. The soil low in available nitrogen, low in available
phosphorus and high available potassium. All package of practices were carried out as per
recommendation of (CPG, 2012). The field experiment was laid out in split plot design with
three replications. The main plots were allocated with three insitu moisture conservation
measures. viz., Broad Bed and Furrows (BBF) (I 1), Ridges and Furrows (RF) (I 2) and
Compartmental Bunding (CB) (I 3). The subplot comprised of stress management practices
viz., Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha -1 (S1), Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5
kg ha -1 + foliar spray of 1% KCl (S 2), Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha -1 + foliar
spray of 5% kaolin (S 3), Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha -1 + foliar spray of
PPFM @ 500 ml ha -1 (S4), Soil application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg ha -1 + foliar spray of
salicylic acid 100 ppm (S 5) and control (S 6). The yield attributing characters like number of
sympodia plant -1 , number of bolls plant -1 , boll weight and seed cotton yield were recorded.
Further, rain water use efficiency, water use efficiency and soil moisture content at various
Climate resilient agriculture for risk mitigation