Dry Land Agronomy (AGRO-7108) 3(3-0)

Introduction of course

This course will enable the students to broaden their understanding of problems, limitations and potentials of arid areas. There will be detailed discussions about the concept of aridity, its causes, classification, and characteristics of dryland agriculture. In addition, there will be a brief description of management practices that should be adopted in dryland regions for successful crop production.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

To introduce the students about concept of aridity and dryland agriculture.
To familiarize students about various causes, characteristics and categories of arid climates.
To make students able to distinguish between drought and aridity.
To make aware students about agronomic approaches for dry land agriculture.
To provide know-how about plant adaptations to water stress.

Text Books

1. Balasubramaniyan, P. and S.P. Palaniappan. 2005. Principles and Practices of Agronomy. Agrobios, Jodhpur, India.

2. Govindan, K. and Thriumurugam. 2003. Principles and Practices of Dry Land Agriculture. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi, India.

3. Panda, S.C. 2005. Agronomy. Agrobios, Jodhpur, India.

4. Arnon, I. 2012. Agriculture in dry lands: principles and practice. Elsevier.

5. Reddy, S.R. 2004. Principles of Crop Production. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi, India.

6. Shaw, T. 2010. Dry land Farming. Nabu Press, USA.

7. Chandrasekaran, B., K. Annadurai and E. Somasundaram. 2010. A Textbook of Agronomy. New Age International Pub., New Delhi, India.

8. Reddy, S.R. 2012. Principles of Agronomy. 4th Revised Edition, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi.

9. Anschütz, J., A. Kome, M. Nederlof, R. de Neef and T. van de Ven. 2003. Water harvesting and soil moisture retention. Agromisa Foundation, Wageningen.

Weekly lesson plan

Week	Topics and Readings	Book with Page No.
1	Introduction of the course.	Scheme of studies of PhD Agronomy Book 7, Page 462-463 Book 7, Page 474-490
	Constraints of Arid Agriculture: Climatic constraints, soil constraints, and Socioeconomic Constraints
	Constraints of Arid Agriculture: Soil Moisture Constraints
2	Causes of aridity: General circulation of atmosphere	Book 4: Pages 30-36.
	Causes of aridity: General circulation of atmosphere: Relief
	Causes of aridity: General circulation of atmosphere: Distribution of land and sea
3	Aridity and Drought	Book 7, Page 469-481 Book 7, Page 481-490
	Techniques of Dry land Agriculture : Cultural / Agronomic methods, Mechanical methods
	Techniques of Dry land Agriculture : Agrostological methods
4	Techniques of Dry land Agriculture : Soil fertility management under dry farming	Book 7, Page 495-499 Book 1, Pages 367-370 Book 1, Pages 370-375
	Techniques of Dry land Agriculture : Soil moisture conservation techniques-Mechanical measures
	Soil moisture conservation techniques: Agronomic measures
5	Characteristics / problems of dry land agriculture: Soil characteristics	Book 1, pages 361-362 Book 1, pages 362-366 Book 1, pages 366-367
	Characteristics / problems of dry land agriculture: Rainfall characteristics
	Characteristics / problems of dry land agriculture: Drought
6	Strategies of dry land agriculture: Erosion management	Book 5: Page 196-208
	Strategies of dry land agriculture: Rain water management
	Strategies of dry land agriculture: Soil fertility management
7	Aridity Indices (Classification of dry areas): The Koppen system of climates / aridity index, De Martonne aridity index	Book 4: Pages 3-8
	Gaussen, Thornthwaite
	Meigs, The Troll system, UNESCO aridity index.
8	Agronomic approaches for dry land agriculture: Tillage requirement, pasture management, cropping plans to meet the weather conditions	Book 5: Page 208-213 Book 4: Page 789-879
	Agronomic approaches for dry land agriculture: Cropping systems, Crops and cultivars, Time of sowing and Weed management
	Agronomic approaches for dry land agriculture: Pest management
9	Mid Tem Exam
10	Alternate land use systems: Agro-forestry, Agrisiviculture, Silvipastoral system	Book 5: Page 214-221
	Alternate land use systems: Agrisilvipastoral system, Agrihorticultural system, Hortisivipastoral system
	Alley Cropping, Forage alley cropping system, forage-cum-mulch system, and forage-cum-pole system, Tree farming, Timber-cum-fibre system and Ley farming
11	Recommendations for dry farming areas: Bunding, Deep ploughing, Fertilizer placement	Book 8: Page 273-274
	Recommendations for dry farming areas: Soil treatment, Selection of suitable crops, Seed treatment, Crop rotation
	Recommendations for dry farming areas: Soil compaction, Catch crops, Intercropping, Line sowing, Weed management, Interculturing, Water harvesting, Plant Protections etc.
12	Plant adaptations to moisture stress: Drought Escape	Book 4: Page 229-245
	Plant adaptation to moisture stress: Avoiding Stress
	Plant adaptation to moisture stress: Dehydration Tolerance
13	Water shed management: Concept, objectives and benefits of watershed management	Book 1: Pages 391-395
	Technological options for watershed management
	Watershed development methods
14	Water harvesting and Soil moisture retention: Introduction: why water harvesting and soil moisture retention	Book 9: Pages 6-30
	Water harvesting: The basic principles of water harvesting
	Water harvesting: Designing water harvesting systems
15	Water harvesting: Selecting a water harvesting technique	Book 9: Pages 33-56
	Water harvesting: Contour systems
	Water harvesting: Freestanding systems
16	Water harvesting: Contour systems to improve infiltration	Book 9: Pages 62-82
	Water harvesting: Measures to improve infiltration and water storage
	Water harvesting: Reducing evaporation losses and optimizing the use of soil moisture
17	Sustainable agriculture in dry regions: The deterioration of natural resources	Book 4: Pages 405-440
	Sustainable agriculture in dry regions: Deterioration and loss of water resources
	Sustainable agriculture in dry regions: sustainable agricultural systems
18	Final Exam