Pr. Bhatnagar et al., MANAGEMENT OF RUNOFF STORED IN SMALL TANKS FOR TRANSPLANTED RICE PRODUCTION IN THE MIDHILLS OF NORTHWEST HIMALAYA, Agricultural water management, 30(1), 1996, pp. 107-118
Scarcity of water in upland areas limits the growing of transplanted r
ice and the yield of rice grown under rainfed conditions is very low.
As the first priority for the use of runoff recycling based water reso
urces is in the dry season followed by the monsoon season, a strategy
has been developed to use the surplus water (occurring during the earl
y monsoon season) to grow transplanted rice without compromising the d
ry season irrigation. Field experiments revealed that under the mid-hi
ll conditions, transplanted rice can be grown as transplanted in 5 cm
standing water and thereafter rainfed, requiring only 3.0-3.5 cm of wa
ter with a yield reduction of about 25% as compared to generally recom
mended intermittent submergence (2 days after the disappearance of wat
er) requiring 100-130 cm of water. However, the reduction in yield was
not significant if 1 week of initial pending just after transplanting
was created. Based on rainfall-runoff analysis, graphs were developed
for runoff and volume of water available in water tanks in different
durations of early monsoon periods, command-catchment area ratio and t
he volume of water available after irrigation which is to be used in d
ry season, as a function of runoff curve numbers. These graphs can be
consulted directly to plan irrigation systems for transplanted rice in
upland areas.