Biodrainage to combat waterlogging, increase farm productivity and sequester carbon in canal command areas of northwest India – A paper in Current Science

This paper in Current Science deals with the use of biodrainage to combat waterlogging, increase farm productivity and sequester carbon in canal command areas of northwest India.
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The rise in groundwater table followed by waterlogging and secondary soil salinization is a serious problem in canal-irrigated areas of arid and semi-arid regions. To combat the problem, an agroforestry model for biodrainage was tested in waterlogged fields of Haryana (northwest India), where 10 per cent area (0.44 m ha) is waterlogged resulting in reduced crop yields and abandonment of agricultural lands.

In this model, four parallel strip-plantations of clonal Eucalyptus tereticornis (Mysore gum) were raised in December 2002 on four ridges constructed in the north–south direction in 4.8 ha canal-irrigated waterlogged fields of farmers. The strip-plantations were spaced at 66 m and each strip-plantation contained two rows of trees at a spacing of 1 m × 1 m, resulting in a density of 300 plants ha–1.

Levels of groundwater table were measured over 3 years (April 2005–April 2008) in 22 observation wells installed in two transects across the strip-plantations. The study indicated the following –

  • The groundwater table underneath the strip-plantations remained lower than that in the adjacent fields and the drawdown in groundwater table was 0.85 m in 3 years.
  • The annual rate of transpiration by 240 surviving trees per ha was 268 mm annum–1 against the mean annual rainfall of 212 mm.
  • The strip-plantations sequestered 15.5 t ha–1 carbon during the first rotation of 5 years and 4 months.
  • Benefit–cost ratio of the first rotation of strip plantations was 3.5: 1 and it would be many folds for next 3 to 4 rotations due to negligible cost of coppiced Eucalyptus.
  • Wheat yield (April 2008) in the interspace of strip-plantations was 3.4 times that in adjacent waterlogged areas without plantation. It was mainly because of lowering of the water table and improvement in soil properties.

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